What are we hoping for in tomorrow's budget? 1) Funding social landlords to maintain and upgrade their existing homes, alongside building new homes: - Rent convergence to allow social rents to increase back to target rents, of at least £2 a week. - Higher grant rates for larger social homes

Opinions may vary, but the figures speak for themselves: Help to Buy has generated £1.38billion for taxpayers and supported 328,346 first-time buyers onto the market. We’ve analysed the performance of Help to Buy, here’s what we found 👇

Government is planning changes to the planning system to streamline it: - Removing Sports England, The Gardens Trust & Theatres Trust as statutory consultees - Reducing the scope of statutory consultees - Measures to ensure they don't hold up planning applications. www.gov.uk/government/c...

The Government has today published the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme. This prospectus sets out how they will be allocating the £39bn for housing over the next 10 years. www.gov.uk/guidance/soc...

We submitted evidence to The House of Commons committee's inquiry into Land Value Capture and are pleased to see it has helped inform many of the recommendations, committees.parliament.uk/publications...

🏠Our latest Housing Outlook finds that the affordability gap between Local Housing Allowance and local rents set to reach record level next year🏠 Read now➡️https://buff.ly/iZ80qbA

Yesterday's panorama was an excellent overview of the challenges in building 1.5m homes - skills, planning, and nutrient neutrality problems were all well explained. It's a great watch for anyone wanting to understand what makes it hard to get new homes built. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

The housing shortage is causing people to resent migrants, even in Liverpool - a city with a strong tradition of welcoming people. We need to build more homes so that there's a quality home for all.

The shortlist for Building Awards' Best Housing Project has been published - in partnership with The Housing Forum. Creative design, clever use of challenging infill sites and impressive eco credentials - do take a look for inspiration on what can be achieved. www.building.co.uk/building-awa...

If private rents are not accessible to people on low incomes: - people become homeless and go to the council for help, instead of finding a new private rental - councils cannot rehouse into the PRS - social tenants rarely move out - causing the decline in relets seen in recent years.

Homelessness stats just out show another new record in households (132k) and children (172k) living in temporary accommodation. Up 7.5% in last year www.gov.uk/government/s...

Less than 40% of construction students go on to careers in the industry. We’re working to change this. There is already some exciting progress happening within our Partner a College pilot – watch this space.

Our new report, with the 1.5m Home Campaign is now out: housingforum.org.uk/wp-content/u... It reveals the top 10 things councils believe hold them back from delivering more homes. Viability and funding top the list.

This is excellent news for everyone involved in housing & planning. I know I'm biased because Alex is one of my co-hosts on the Planning After Dark podcast but she really is an excellent choice by the @housingforum.org.uk

We're delighted to announce the appointment of Alex Notay as our new Chief Executive Officer. housingforum.org.uk/alex-notay-a...

Our new report, with the 1.5m Home Campaign is now out: housingforum.org.uk/wp-content/u... It reveals the top 10 things councils believe hold them back from delivering more homes. Viability and funding top the list.

The current home buying and selling process in England is slow, costly and stressful. Today, we announce further measures to make it quicker and cheaper. www.theguardian.com/money/2025/o...

Full details of what the Government is proposing to speed up property transactions now out - www.gov.uk/government/c... The reasons for tackling this problem are pretty clear:

A depressing set of stats from the HBF. The new Government has been trying to reform planning so why is this happening? - New Planning Bill hasn't passed yet, nor have the new higher housing targets come into effect in most areas - Housing market isn't strong - Viability on small sites collapsing

Build, build, build isn't much use as mantra if you then leave the new homes sitting empty for a year or more while the Building Safety Regulator gets round to approving them. This process used to take a matter of days when local authorities were in charge of it. news.sky.com/story/bluesk...

The Building Safety Regulator's slow decision making and high number of refusals at 'Gateway 2' are grinding housebuilding to a halt in London especially. And new evidence is starting to emerge of similar delays at Gateway 3 - which is is after the new homes are built, and ready to occupy:

The Housing Forum has responded to the Government’s consultation on Social Rent Convergence. We welcome the commitment to allow rents to increase where they are below target, to increase fairness and help alleviate the acute financial pressures on social landlords housingforum.org.uk/campaigns/th...

Closing on Monday!

We're recruiting! The Housing Forum is looking for a talented and engaging chief executive officer who will provide leadership to the small internal team and the wider housing sector. See housingforum.org.uk/the-housing-... Do share with your networks.

We have responded to the Government’s consultation on planning committees. housingforum.org.uk/campaigns/th... Our cross sector membership means that we are uniquely placed to bring together council planning officers with those who put in planning applications – housebuilders & housing associations.

199,300 new homes were built last year - leaving 1.3m for Government to meet their target. Delivery will need to ramp up. A year into the new parliament, we've looked back at the things we identified last year to see what's been done, and what's still to do. housingforum.org.uk/reports/key-...

We're delighted to see that Government has listened to calls from across the housing sector. Exempting newbuild from the Right to Buy will help give councils the confidence to get building again. questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...

We are encouraged to hear that MHCLG plan to set up a new fast track process for approving new buildings. 70%+ of the applications for new high rise buildings in the 20 months since the Building Safety Regulator was established are still awaiting a decision. www.housingtoday.co.uk/mhclg-to-tak...

We are concerned that the Government's latest proposals to try to speed up new housing development could backfire, and actually slow down the pace of new housebuilding. housingforum.org.uk/the-housing-...

The Housing Forum has responded to the London Mayor’s invitation to contribute to the new London Plan. We welcome the more streamlined approach that is outlined, and see the London Plan as having a key spatial role to play. housingforum.org.uk/the-housing-...

The Housing Forum welcomes the Chancellor's announcement of £39bn funding for a 10-year Affordable Homes Programme. This is a 50% uplift on the size of the previous programme, at £3.9bn per year - up from £2.3bn per year - to build new social rent, Affordable Rent and shared ownership homes.

What are you hoping to see in next week's Spending Review? Here are our key asks for the housing sector:

What are you hoping to see in next week's Spending Review? Here are our key asks for the housing sector:

Next week (on 5 June) we're running a visit to Lion's Farm Lakes regeneration project in Sandwell, where council homes have been upgraded to enhance thermal performance and accessibility, including roof space development. You can read more about it here: www.housingtoday.co.uk/in-partnersh...

Government has proposed a range of measures to help SME housebuilders. This will be warmly welcomed across the sector, including social landlords and councils who want to get building again. www.gov.uk/government/n...

Government has now published our written evidence submitted on the draft Planning and Infrastructure Bill. publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cm...

The Housing Forum will be in Leeds at #UKREiif this week! We'll be joining panels and hosting events, alongside many of our members from across the housing sector. Hope to see you there. 2025.ukreiif.com

Delivering housing, infrastructure and building sustainable communities is a task that will require cross industry insights. The Housing Forum has therefore submitted evidence to the House of Lords’ Built Environment Committee’s Inquiry into New Towns. housingforum.org.uk/campaigns/th...

Good to see the Government exploring 'all possible options' to resolve the delays to housebuilding caused by the building safety gateway process. The Building Safety Regulator is under-staffed and the process is delaying projects by up to a year. www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/mhclg-e...

Download the Net Zero Transition Plan in full 👇 buff.ly/lAPNFwc

The Net Zero Transition Plan for new homes has been published today by the Future Homes Hub. irp.cdn-website.com/bdbb2d99/fil... setting out a possible trajectory to decarbonising new homes, and what needs to happen to get there.

The Housing Forum has submitted evidence on the draft Planning and Infrastructure Bill. We welcome the proposals to streamline planning committees, particularly the focus on training for councillors who sit on planning committees, the cap on size. housingforum.org.uk/campaigns/th...

The Housing Forum welcomes the taskforce announced today to help unlock public sector land for housing. There is much potential in sites owned by the MoD or Network Rail and a taskforce should help identify what is needed to bring about new homes on these sites. www.gov.uk/government/n...

The Housing Forum is very pleased to see today's announcement of £2bn additional funding for affordable housing this parliament. www.gov.uk/government/n...

We are pleased to see that the Government has postponed the introduction of the new Building Safety Levy (tax on new homes) to Autumn 2026. This will give the sector a bit more time to prepare.

Do you work for a council, landowner or developer trying to improve our streets and squares with urban greenery? Would you like to know more about where and how to 'green up' ? If so then...

Some helpful changes on planning committees - compulsory training for councilors, requirements that planning officers determine some applications, and caps on the size of committees (which we raised in our consultation response @thehousingforum.bsky.social) housingforum.org.uk/campaigns/th...

The Housing Forum is pleased to see the HBF raising concerns about the proposed building safety levy www.hbf.co.uk/news/home-bu.... This levy has no direct impact on building safety, and adds a further tax to the costs of housebuilding at a time when the sector can least afford it.