PAC unconvinced govt’s housing delivery efforts will have balanced impact across country
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The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) does not believe that the
government's £21bn housing fund is well set-up to ensure a balanced
portfolio of projects in a range of locations across the country.
In a new report, the PAC is further urging government to make plans
to mitigate the impact of changes in local government structures on
their approach to unlocking land for housing. Government is aiming
to deliver 1.5m new homes by July 2029. This means an average
300,000+ homes per...Request free trial
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) does not believe that the government's £21bn housing fund is well set-up to ensure a balanced portfolio of projects in a range of locations across the country. In a new report, the PAC is further urging government to make plans to mitigate the impact of changes in local government structures on their approach to unlocking land for housing. Government is aiming to deliver 1.5m new homes by July 2029. This means an average 300,000+ homes per year need to be built levels last achieved in the 1960s. As part of its efforts to tackle a chronic undersupply of the land it says exists for this housing, government launched the National Housing Delivery Fund (NHDF). It did so without a pipeline of projects, suggesting to the PAC that its approach is reactive and demand-led. This has government reliant on schemes coming forward on a project-by-project basis, and leaves the PAC unconvinced that the funding will be allocated to ensure a balanced portfolio of projects in a range of locations. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has reported that as at the end of December 2025, 57,671 homes had been delivered by legacy programmes. The report further sets out concerns that neither MHCLG nor Homes England have set out how they will judge whether the NHDF has been successful, or how many homes they expect will be built on land unlocked by the NHDF, or by when. Despite representing £21bn in public money, with no clear and measurable success criteria against which to assess outcomes, MHCLG cannot robustly assess the performance of the NHDF, weakening its accountability to Parliament. The PAC's report also highlights the impact of local government reorganisation, which will create unitary authorities where there are currently district and county-level local authorities. Homes England acknowledged as part of the PAC's inquiry that this reorganisation is absorbing a large amount of energy and attention. For the NHDF, the Department has devolved £1.3bn of grant funding to the Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities through integrated settlements to support projects to unlock land for housing. As local government structures continue to change, the PAC stresses how important it is that the government and Homes England ensure funding doesn't get disrupted, accountability remains clear and that areas remain focused on delivery. Clive Betts MP, Deputy Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: Our nation's housing crisis has a number of complex drivers, including the loss of social housing and a failure of supply keeping pace with demand. One of the more important pieces of the puzzle for the government to solve will be opening up the supply of land which developers view currently as not attractive or profitable enough to build upon. We have all long been in desperate need of homes, and land on which to build them, so the many billions of pounds that government has put behind this effort are to be welcomed. However, our Committee is focused on delivery, rather than the choice to allocate funds, which in this instance have been set aside without a considered pipeline of projects ready to go. Indeed, £21 billion has been marked for housing delivery without any criteria to judge whether it has been successfully spent. We fear that at present, housing projects which advocate for themselves will benefit, while other areas in similar or even perhaps greater need may miss out, which could produce unequal outcomes in different areas of England. Such an important policy will require a strategic focus if it is to have any hope of success, and we hope the recommendations in our report help government develop one. PAC report conclusions and recommendations Neither the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (the Department) nor Homes England have set out how they will judge whether the National Housing Delivery Fund (NHDF) has been successful, or how many homes they expect will be built on land unlocked by the NHDF, or by when. The NHDF is worth £21 billion of public money and was launched in March this year. It is a long-term fund with a broad set of aims including boosting housing supply, economic growth, place-making, improving housing quality and making a financial return on investment. However, the Department has not set out how it will measure if the NHDF has been successful for each of these aims. The Department wants the fund to deliver as many homes as possible, in the right places, but believes it is too early to specify its housing delivery expectations as it does not yet know which projects will receive funding. As Homes England agrees what to fund, there will be a specific number of expected homes attached to those projects meaning the Department will develop in time a clearer idea of the number of homes to be built. It is currently finalising the business case for the NHDF and with no clear and measurable success criteria against which to assess outcomes, the Department cannot robustly assess the performance of the NHDF, weakening its accountability to Parliament. Recommendation 1.
The Department and Homes England have not been fully transparent about their plans for tracking the number of homes built on land unlocked by legacy programmes. The Department and Homes England are retrospectively tracking how many homes were built on land unlocked by the various legacy programmes that they initially did not track. The Department reports that as at the end of December 2025, 57,671 homes had been delivered by legacy programmes, 24,400 of which were identified through retrospective analysis. The Department is continuing this process and expects to understand the total number of homes built on land unlocked by all its legacy programmes by May 2027. The Department explained it is using geospatial analysis of site boundaries to do this, but it can be hard to assess which homes to attribute to unlocking land investments in certain cases, such as where the funding has provided infrastructure like road junctions. There is a lack of transparency about the Department's approach to tracking the number of homes built on land unlocked in these more complicated cases. It is essential for the Department to understand the outcomes of its investments in order to make good quality assessments of performance and judgements on value for money which can lead to improvements in the design of future programmes. Recommendation 2.
It will be important that the Department and Homes England have clear plans to adapt how the NHDF operates to the changes in local government structures. The shift from two-tier councils to unitary authorities, alongside the creation of Mayoral Strategic Authorities with devolved powers and funding from central government, is ongoing. For the NHDF, the Department has devolved £1.3 billion of grant funding to the Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities through integrated settlements to support projects to unlock land for housing. Homes England has a new target operating model, which sets out how it is organised and delivers work, so it can provide more support locally. Its aim is tostrengthen collaboration with mayors, local leaders and partners and ensure solutions for housing and regeneration are tailored to, and reflect, local priorities. As local government structures continue to change, it is important that MHCLG and Homes England ensure funding doesn't get disrupted, accountability remains clear and that areas remain focused on delivery. Recommendation 3. By the end of the year, the Department and Homes England should write jointly to the committee setting out their expectation on how their approach to unlocking land will be impacted by changes in local government structures, and what plans they have to mitigate any such impact, and how Homes England's new target operating model will adapt to the new landscape of unitary authorities. We remain unconvinced that the Department and Homes England have a strategic approach to allocating the NHDF to ensure a balanced portfolio of projects in a range of locations which support the objectives of the NHDF. The Department launched the NHDF without a pipeline of projects suggesting its approach to creating a portfolio of projects is reactive and demand led rather than strategically planned. This means there is a risk that the final portfolio does not contain a strategic balance of projects which support the objectives of the NHDF and maximise the impact of funding and value for money. In addition, we are not convinced a demand-led approach will lead to a balanced portfolio of projects across a range of locations. The Department has 10 Strategic Place Partnerships linked to Mayoral Strategic Authorities which will provide strategic direction in those places. The Department is aiming to work in partnership with local areas to align housing delivery with placebased growth strategies. The Department says the NHDF was deliberately designed to be flexible, and it considers a range of criteria when assessing projects and determining the best investment type, such as grants, loans or equity, but we are not satisfied that the Department has explained this process to us sufficiently well. Recommendation 4. As part of its Treasury Minute response, the Department and Homes England should clearly articulate how the NHDF will:
The Department failed to put in place external evaluation at the launch of the NHDF, risking gaps in early data collection and limiting opportunities for timely improvements. Despite launching the NHDF in March 2026 the Department has given itself another twelve months to finish its scoping and feasibility work for external evaluation. It is important the Department concludes this work at the earliest opportunity so it knows which data is needed to conduct quality evaluations and can put in plans to collect it. Early learning based on robust analysis of performance increases understanding of what works to unlock land and enables timely improvements to the NHDF, increasing its effectiveness over the long term. The Department is planning to run internal evaluations alongside its external evaluation and plans to have clear review points with HM Treasury and the National Infrastructure Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) to ensure lessons can be learned and applied. It is important the Department continues work to get its evaluation in place without delay. Recommendation 5.
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