Last week, we submitted a detailed response to the government’s Fair Funding Review, calling for a funding system that reflects the real needs of the North, supports the long-term sustainability of councils and enables them to deliver the services their communities value.

In our submission, we said:

The North Has Shouldered the Heaviest Cuts
Since 2010/11, local authorities in the North have seen a 30.2% drop in net expenditure—more than the national average. These cuts have hit non-statutory services hardest, from street cleaning and community safety to libraries and housing strategy. We believe the Fair Funding Review must address this imbalance and restore spending power in these areas.

Homelessness Costs Are Escalating
Spending on homelessness and temporary accommodation in the North has more than trebled in five years, now exceeding £270 million annually. We support proposals to simplify funding streams and giving councils the flexibility to respond effectively, but funding allocations will need to reflect the scale of the challenge.

Reinvesting in Housing Capacity
To ensure that councils can support the government in delivering its 1.5 million home target, both directly through building new council homes and working with the private sector, we’re calling for dedicated funding to rebuild housing and planning capacity within councils—supporting the delivery of new homes aligned with local priorities. Between 2010/11 and 2024/25, net expenditure on housing strategy, enabling and advice has fallen by 71% in real terms, while expenditure on development control, building control and planning policy has fallen by 51%.

The Area Cost Adjustment (ACA) Needs Reform
Under current proposals, the ACA will result in a reduction of funding for the most deprived areas. Of the 79 authorities set to lose out, 46 are in the North. Instead, the ACA should explicitly consider deprivation as part of its calculations or introduce a funding floor to protect the poorest areas.

Statutory Duties Risk Crowding Out Community Services
The growing burden of statutory services—especially adult and children’s social care—is squeezing out investment in wider services that are highly valued by residents across the North. Expenditure on cultural and related services (community centres, libraries, heritage, recreation etc.) has reduced by 45% in real terms since 2010/11. Statutory services provide vital support for some of the most vulnerable in society, but this overwhelming burden and the subsequent reduction in non-statutory service provision risks eroding public trust and community cohesion.

We Need Long-Term Investment in Local Services
Restoring funding for non-statutory services to 2010/11 levels would cost £1.1bn annually—just 3.3% of the North’s local authority revenue budget. This investment would be transformative, helping us rebuild pride in place and support better homes and neighbourhoods.

 The Fair Funding Review is a critical opportunity to reset the balance. We’re calling on government to ensure that funding reflects the real challenges the North faces and empowers our members to build and support great places across the North.

“This is a key moment for housing and local government in the North. If we want to build thriving communities, improve housing quality for private renters and deliver the homes people need, restored council capacity will need to play a key role in delivery. The Fair Funding Review is a great opportunity to put local authorities on a more sustainable financial footing and in a position to deliver on the government’s agenda across this parliament.”
Tracy Harrison, Chief Executive, NHC

The Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) hosted a parliamentary event which brought MPs, NHC members and other stakeholders together. They discussed the need for housing-led regeneration to make sure northern communities can live in safe, affordable homes in places they are proud of.

The event followed recent government housing announcements that have significantly increased investment in affordable housing and provided much-needed long-term funding certainty and clarity around legislation. Regeneration has also featured in the announcements, with confirmation about flexibility in the Social and Affordable Homes Programme for replacement homes. It has also been put forward as a key deliverable in integrated settlements, and the Local Growth Plan is set to support Mayors to boost community-led regeneration.

The NHC plans to launch an inquiry Where Next for Housing-Led Regeneration in the North, supported by Homes for the North and Muse, later in the year to define housing-led regeneration’s role in tackling the housing crisis, delivering growth and building stronger communities.  It will look at how the social housing sector can bring maximum benefits to communities through regeneration with current government support and explore how to go even further in the future to meet the needs of the North.

Northern Housing Consortium Chief Executive Tracy Harrison said: “The outcome of the spending review and the recent housing announcements are milestone moments for the social housing sector in the North, which will drive real change. To effectively tackle the housing crisis in the North, housing-led regeneration must sit alongside new housing supply and support to improve existing homes.

“Our research has consistently shown that the North is disproportionally affected by low quality homes with over one million non-decent homes in the North. The problem is most acute in the private rented sector with 27 per cent of homes not meeting current Decent Homes Standards.  We’ve also found that there are 126,000 social housing homes in the North reaching the end of their serviceable life. These issues must be addressed if we want to make sure everyone has access to a safe and warm home they can afford.

“The right foundations are in place for the North to hit the ground running. We’re leading the way with devolution, and housing partnerships are driving collaboration. Through our Inquiry, we want to work with parliamentarians, members, residents and other stakeholders to maximise the benefits of regeneration for communities in the North.”

Speakers at the event included Lord Best OBE, DL who set the scene about why housing-led regeneration is a priority for the North and Liz Twist MP and Andrew Cooper MP gave parliamentarians perspectives on regeneration. Onward Chief Executive and Chair of Homes for North, Bronwen Rapley, highlighted why regeneration is a priority for Homes for the North. Managing Director of Muse, Phil Mayall, spoke about regeneration from a commercial view point and his experience of transforming places. Chief Executive of believe housing Alan Smith shared insight about regeneration projects and Chief Executive of Incommunities and Chair of the West Yorkshire Housing Partnership Rachael Dennis talked about regeneration and devolution from a housing partnership perspective.

Bronwen Rapley, Chair of Homes for the North, said: “The Government has set out a transformative vision to deliver the biggest boost to housebuilding in generations. Regeneration has a critical role to play in helping to unlock the delivery of more and better homes. Our research shows that regeneration across the North could support the creation of 305,000 homes, equivalent to 4.3 years of housing supply.

“The North faces a particular set of challenges, from a lack of housing to contaminated sites and ageing homes, that are holding back regeneration. We now have an opportunity to work with the Government to help shape delivery mechanisms that can address some of these barriers. Whilst there are challenges, the potential of regeneration is even greater.

“This inquiry comes at a critical moment and we look forward to contributing to this vital and timely conversation about the role that regeneration has to play in unlocking growth and revitalising communities.”

Phil Mayall, Managing Director at Muse, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with the NHC and Homes for the North on this important inquiry. Against the backdrop of the government’s positive agenda for the industry and the tools which have already been provided to us, we’re at a real moment in time where we can go even further in delivering meaningful change in the North of England.

“Drawing on our decades of experience as placemakers, we’re looking forward to sharing our case studies, lessons, and learnings. With a growing focus also on promoting partnerships as a means to further transform communities, we are excited to offer an insight into how we have been working in partnership with the public and private sector, including through ECF, our partnership with L&G and Homes England, and our plans for the future through Habiko, with PIC and Homes England.”

Further information about the need for regeneration in the North can be found in the NHC’s annual state of the region report the Northern Housing Monitor. The NHC conducted member research ‘Understanding the Need for Regeneration in the North’, which can be found here.

This event supported by Homes for the North and Muse and powered by the NHC’s commercial arm NHC Procurement.

Our new state of the region report has been launched in parliament at an event attended by Northern MPs, members, government officials and other stakeholders.  

This year’s Northern Housing Monitor revealed the urgent need for more social housing in the North. It found that there are nearly 500,000 households on social housing waiting lists in the North – a 13 per cent increase on the previous year.  The number of households forced to live in temporary accommodation is also rising fast with a yearly increase of around 16%, with over 14,000 children in the region living in temporary accommodation. 

600,000 social rent homes in the North have been sold though Right to Buy and only 1 in 7 have been replaced. This contributes to a lack of social housing, increasing homelessness and people in the lowest income group being forced to rent in the private sector where rents are higher and quality is lower. A quarter of people renting privately in the North fall into the lowest income bracket and 1 in 3 children in the North live in households that are pushed into poverty after housing costs.

The Government has committed to the “biggest growth in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation” with an ambitious target of building 1.5 million homes – 370,000 homes per year. This has subsequently seen housebuilding targets increase by 52 per cent in the North. However, the previous Government’s targets were exceeded in the North, so to hit the new targets the delivery of new homes in the North needs to increase by 27 per cent. 

The report revealed that as well as a need for more social housing, there is the twin challenge of a need to regenerate our communities with around 27 per cent of private rented homes in the North not meeting current Decent Homes standards. Rates of demolition in the North have dropped by around a quarter since 2019/20 suggesting the worst quality homes are not being replaced.

Tracy Harrison, Chief Executive, Northern Housing Consortium said: “Housing waiting lists are increasing and the number of people forced into expensive and unsuitable temporary accommodation is skyrocketing. 3.6m people in the North are pushed into poverty after housing costs, demonstrating the urgent need for more social housing.  

“Housing associations and councils are ready to deliver the homes their communities need and to contribute to Government housebuilding targets and economic growth, but to do this they need the right resources. The Government recently announced a £2 billion top up of the Affordable Homes Programme, something we’d been campaigning for to enable our members to continue building. However, to make a real change, longer term funding is needed to build more homes and improve existing homes and places. Lower land values make building in the North more affordable. We are leading the way with devolution, which means in many areas there is already the infrastructure and collaboration in place to better target funding.  

“It is vital that action is taken urgently to make sure that everyone in the North has access to a good quality, safe home. I’m optimistic that with the right support from Government, the social housing sector in the North can make a real difference.”

To make sure everyone in the North has a good quality safe place to call home,  we’re calling on the Government to:  

• Launch a new ten-year affordable homes programme announced at the Spending Review:  

• With flexibility to support housing led regeneration schemes, so outdated homes that are not fit for purpose can be replaced by new homes that meet the needs of communities. 

• Greater devolution of funding to make sure it is targeted effectively to meet local needs.  

• Targeted support for local authorities to ensure they are set up to build new council homes.  

• A dedicated funding stream of at least 1.37 billion over 5 years to support housing-led neighbourhood regeneration in the North.  

• This would run alongside the recently announced Plan for Neighbourhoods, which supports social regeneration in specific towns.  

• Unlock up to 320,000 homes on brownfield land in the North through a ten-year £4.2 billion programme to remediate all the North’s brownfield land.  

• Make quality a priority: 

• Confirmation of the new Decent Homes Standard and the right financial support to make sure existing homes meet the new standard. 

• Continued investment in energy efficiency, which lowers bills for tenants and improves quality of homes.  Previous NHC research found £500 million of retrofit funding per year up to 2030 is needed for the North to upgrade all social homes to EPC band C, and from 2030 to £1 billion per year is needed to accelerate the decarbonisation of the North’s homes. 

• Devolved combined funding for housing quality and energy efficiency so social housing providers can work more efficiently, and the funding is targeted where it’s needed most.   

• Support for local authorities to drive improvements in the private rented sector. 

• Make sure that housing associations and local authorities have the financial stability needed to invest in new homes. 

• A ten-year rent settlement at CPI plus one, with the option of rent convergence where needed.  

The Northern Housing Monitor, our annual state of the region report is produced by Arc4 and supported by believe housing, Bernicia and Yorkshire Housing. It covers housing and poverty, housing supply, housing quality and regeneration, and net zero and fuel poverty. It is available on the NHC website, alongside the Northern Housing data bank.

Speakers at the parliamentary event included Member of Parliament for Huddersfield Harpreet Uppal, Lord Best OBE DL, Director, Social Housing at Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Emma Payne,  Chief Executive of Bernicia Homes John Johnson, and the NHC’s Tracy Harrison.  

On 25^th March, the government announced a £2 billion top up and one year extension for the Affordable Homes Programme, aiming to deliver a further 18,000 new social and affordable homes. Following this, the Housing Minister, Matthew Pennycook, has written to all housing association chief executives, through the Northern Housing Consortium, National Housing Federation and other sector bodies.

The Minister’s letter confirms that the majority of this new funding will be allocated for the financial year 2026/27, will be delivered under the terms of the current 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme, and will prioritise the delivery of new homes for social rent. This means that this new funding will be able to benefit from the regeneration flexibilities introduced to the current programme in 2023, which allow grant funding to fund replacement homes on regeneration schemes where there is a net addition of homes overall.

The Minister also confirmed that the Spending Review “will set out the full details of a new grant programme to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme”, and that this will include further grant funding for new homes for both 2026/27 and subsequent years. This new funding, therefore, will act as a bridge between the current Affordable Homes Programme and its successor.

The full letter can from the Housing Minister can be found here.

In response to the announcement, Tracy Harrison, Chief Executive of the Northern Housing Consortium, said:

“We called for immediate action in the Spring Statement on the Affordable Homes Programme, so this £2 billion top up is very welcome. It will mean our members can continue to build much needed social homes at a time when housing waiting lists and homelessness are rising in the North. We are pleased that even in challenging times the Government is prioritising making sure everyone has a good quality, affordable, safe home.

“We look forward to details of the new longer-term programme at the Spending Review in the summer. We have called for the new fund to have a greater role for Mayoral Combined Authorities so there is more flexibility to meet local needs, something the Government indicated they are looking at in the English Devolution White Paper. To meet the needs of communities in the North regeneration and housing quality must also be a priority. This includes flexibility with affordable homes funding so it can be used to replace poor quality existing homes and a separate £1.37 billion fund over 5 years to support housing led neighbourhood regeneration in the North.”

You can read the NHC’s full Spending Review submission here.