Flexibility and extra £1.4billion may help empty homes bids

The Chancellor's Autumn statement offered £1.4billion of additional funding for affordable housing and, importantly, removed the restrictions on tenure which had diverted nearly all the capital budget to home ownership. These changes allow some room for hope that empty homes bids might get funded, although a lack of appetite amongst housing associations and perceived issues around value-for-money may still prove major impediments. The additional money and change in emphasis on tenure also provide a platform for another attempt to initiate a new Community Grants Programme.  The outcome of further research into that programme should be forthcoming soon and may provide the needed impetus. Less promising is the concentration on areas of high demand. London seems destined to received £3.5billion, which presumably comes from the funding streams already announced. It is hard to work out from the announcements made how much funding will be left for the rest of the country, and particularly those areas where existing homes are cheaper and empty homes interventions are easier to implement.