Press release: Malthouse launches £8.5 million fund to help communities deliver discounted homes

A multi-million-pound support package to deliver thousands of discounted homes was launched by Housing Minister Kit Malthouse MP today (Saturday 11 May 2019).

Volunteer groups will be able to apply from Monday for between £10,000 and £50,000 to help identify suitable sites for discounted homes, get planning permission for them and to provide other technical support. Further free specialist advice and guidance will also be made available for those who participate in the pilot.

The government will be making £8.5 million available for the 3 year pilot project which will help provide cut-price homes for younger people and families in need of housing, through locally-led neighbourhood plans.

Minister of State for Housing, Kit Malthouse MP, said:

Supporting volunteers who are passionate about building more of the homes we need in their communities is something I’m fully behind, and I want to see far more people getting involved across England.

This funding is on top of the £26 million already available to help get neighbourhood plans over the line, which act as powerful tools for communities to be involved in the planning of their local area – providing different housing types for those who need new homes.

Discounted homes are properties built for people to buy at affordable rates, allowing them to secure mortgages in areas of the country where they are currently locked out of the market by high prices. For example, a 3-bed home from the Cornwall Community Land Trust was recently sold at a discount for local people, for a price of £160,000, which is compared to an average property price in the county of over £230,000.

The funds launched today forms part of a wider package of measures and targeted investment to produce more homes, building on ongoing government action to achieve a system which delivers 300,000 properties a year by the mid 2020s.

The new funds can be applied for via our third-party support provider Locality.

Last year the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government launched a support package totalling £26 million for communities seeking to prepare and adopt a neighbourhood plan. Today’s £8.5 million is in addition to this, acting as a pilot for the specific delivery of discounted homes.

The pilot project will run from 13 May 2019 to 31 March 2022. Government will review the outcomes of the pilot in January 2020 to inform arrangements for future years.