Homes England launches new strategic plan

The UK government’s housing and regeneration agency, Homes England, unveiled its new five-year strategic plan 2023-28 on 16 May, which sets out how it plans to support the delivery of affordable homes and regenerate towns and cities across England.   

The new strategic plan, which is backed by £16bn in government funding, aims to deliver on the following five objectives: support the creation of vibrant and successful places that people can be proud of, working with local leaders and other partners to deliver housing-led mixed-use regeneration with a brownfield-first approach; facilitate the creation of the homes people need, intervening where necessary to ensure places have enough homes of the right type and tenure; build a housing and regeneration sector that works for everyone, driving diversification, partnership working, and innovation; promote the creation of high-quality homes in well-designed places that reflect community priorities by taking an inclusive and long-term approach; and enable sustainable homes and places, maximising their positive contribution to the natural environment and minimising their environmental impact.

The new strategic plan sets out the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will be used measure performance over the course of the strategic plan period, which will include measuring the social value. Homes England intends to deliver on its objectives by, among other things, supporting regeneration across England by brokering and securing new private sector investment through new partnerships and, building on the success of the English Cities Fund, look to enable the creation of further public-private investment funds; ­enabling the assembly of land to drive large-scale regeneration by using its legal powers, including exercising its powers to make compulsory purchase orders to acquire land; and­ working with local governments to bring forward long-term regeneration projects across towns and cities.

Commenting on the new strategic plan, Chair of Homes England, Peter Freeman, said: “There is no doubt that housing plays an enormous role in the wellbeing and prosperity of our country. As an Agency, we firmly believe that affordable, quality homes in well-designed places are key to improving people’s lives. And our updated strategic plan has been designed to enable us to deliver against that. Over the next five years, we will continue to work with housebuilders of all shapes and sizes to boost housing supply. But we will also focus on the places those homes sit in, working ever more closely with local leaders and other partners to build communities as well as housing, be it through housing-led, mixed-use regeneration or new settlements. This is a pivotal moment for Homes England as we reaffirm our role as the Government’s housing and regeneration agency and go even further in helping to create the thriving places of the future.”