HCA Kickstart and LANB allocations provide welcome homes boost

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has today confirmed that well over half the 165 uncommitted Kickstart and Local Authority New Build (LANB) schemes under review have now secured funding, following further evaluation in the wake of reductions to the HCA’s budget announced in July.

This equates to 44 out of a total of 74 Kickstart schemes and 61 LANB schemes out of a total of 91 schemes which were not under contract before the election purdah period began and subject to evaluation by the HCA’s local teams. This will translate into over 4,800 new homes under Kickstart and over 600 homes under LANB, securing hundreds of new jobs and apprenticeships across England and providing a much needed housing boost for communities.

For individual schemes that did not secure Kickstart or LANB funding, there are still further opportunities for HCA funding through other routes such as NAHP or HMR, and the HCA is working with its regional teams to progress this.

Chief executive of the HCA, Sir Bob Kerslake, said: "Following a period of uncertainty, I am pleased to be able to firm up the position with our partners. Our allocations, based firmly on discussions with partners, have maximised the supply of affordable housing and value for money, meeting local priorities."

"By taking a localist approach we’ve achieved much more than we would have done by acting in isolation." Housing Minister Grant Shapps said: "Times are tough, but we're working hard to do all that we can to support the construction industry and revive housebuilding."

"Despite the strict measures we're having to take to tackle the nation's huge budget deficit, we’ve managed to safeguard funding for more than half of the previously unsecured housing schemes."

"This will mean that more than 5,000 new homes will now go ahead, supporting jobs and providing much-needed affordable housing for first time buyers and those waiting for a social home."

Stewart Baseley, executive chairman at HBF said today; "By reallocating funding in this way, the Government and HCA have demonstrated they appreciate the substantial social and economic benefits of maintaining housing supply. It is great news for prospective home owners and the house building industry alike."

"Kickstart investment produces immediate benefits in terms of local job creation, apprenticeships and economic activity and this money will boost communities across the country. The paybacks are enormous. This is especially good news for the industry, coming just as New Homes Month gets underway."

Details of Kickstart Round 2 schemes that *have secured funding are available, in addition to a list of those that did not secure funding.

Details of LANB schemes that have secured funding along with a list of those that did not secure funding are available.

The HCA will shortly be conducting a review of the Kickstart programme, with findings to be published later in the year.

*We have saved and published the information in a CSV file format so that it can be easily read in a variety of formats and applications. However, the CSV format uses a standard column width and it is possible that not all information may be completely visible. To view all of the data, you will therefore need to expand the column width. You can do this by selecting all of the cells in the file and then clicking on “Format /Column / Auto Fit Selection”.

For more media information please contact Helen Stoddart in the HCA press office on 020 7881 1615 / helen.stoddart@hca.gsx.gov.uk

Notes to editors

A summary of regional schemes approved for LANB or Kickstart funding, subject to final negotiation at regional level, is as follows. Some of the individual schemes have already been announced locally:

Region	No. of Kickstart Schemes	Kickstart Total Funding	Market Units	Homebuy Direct Units	LCHO units	Social rent units	No. of LANB schemes	HCA Grant Requested	No. of units
East of England	4	13,404,184	161	38	49	125
East Midlands	3	3,353,414	72	29	0	34	14	2,757,103	62
London	13	58,015,794	1614	58	134	180	9	11,968,068	159
North East	3	10,045,996	35	62	60	83	2	1,942,784	40
North West	11	19,880,978	314	109	83	249	8	4,443,750	87
South East	3	21,919,000	360	0	43	223	15	8,073,424	119
South West	4	11,417,250	182	49	51	205	3	911,377	12
West Midlands	2	9,237,250	108	17	20	70	5	4,342,206	81
Yorks& Humber	1	390,000	30	0	7	13	5	4,675,965	82
Total	44	147,663,866	2876	362	447	1182	61	39,114,677	642

The Kickstart Round 2 schemes and LANB schemes under review were at risk as a result of the reduction in access to end of year flexibility (EYF). Following the confirmation on July 5th of £390m of EYF it was agreed that HCA local teams would review the schemes which had not received approval before purdah.

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is the single, national housing and regeneration delivery agency for England. Our vision is to create opportunity for people to live in homes they can afford in places they want to live, by enabling local authorities and communities to deliver the ambition they have for their own areas.