The Autumn Statement provides greater support for new housing through the £23bn National Productivity Investment Fund which includes £1.4bn grant funding to enable 40,000 new affordable rented homes by 2021. The funding will enable HAs to deliver more homes for affordable rent. To achieve a step change and double the numbers HAs deliver overall, a more innovative approach is needed:

1. Subsidy is critical: to enable HAs to double housing delivery and contribute homes across a range of tenures. It is only by building out a wider mix of housing, including affordable rented housing, that we can substantially increase numbers and meet need. Failure to do this risks displacing housing that would have been delivered by the private sector. In the absence of more grant, HAs would need to secure land at zero or low value to deliver shared ownership or affordable rent housing.

2. More land for development: the additional potential demand for more sites could drive up land values, squeezing margins and choking off growth. To prevent high land values compromising the viability of new schemes, more land needs to be made available for residential development in the right places. This is particularly important if we are to encourage development for a mix of tenures.

3. Local authorities: have the responsibility to set targets to meet housing need and to allocate sufficient land for residential development. LAs can also take a leadership role in land assembly and contribute their own assets. Targeted use of public land would help HAs to secure land at zero or low value to deliver shared ownership or affordable rent housing. LAs would need to balance the objectives of generating receipts from surplus public land and providing affordable housing.

4. Planning flexibility: the ability to deliver a range of tenures enables HAs to react strategically to market cycles by increasing the delivery of homes for sale during a strong market and switching to a higher number of rented housing during leaner times. This approach would require Local Planning Authorities to take a more flexible approach on the timings of delivery of affordable housing by housing associations to reach the goal of higher overall housing delivery over the longer term.

5. Innovative partnerships and mergers: our analysis shows that HA’s additional financial capacity is not evenly spread across the sector or the country. Much of the extra potential is also in the hands of those without a development programme. Making the most of this opportunity requires greater collaboration across the sector. This may involve more innovative partnerships as well as mergers.