Why the outlook for building a new generation of social and affordable homes is looking brighter

Last year was a historic year for social housing. The Spending Review announcements in June included a potentially transformative package of measures to support social housing and provide long-term stability for our sector.

This followed a campaign, championed by people from across the housing sphere, calling on the government to commit to securing the future of social housing. It was a huge achievement and a great example of collaborative working in action

You can read more about it in our report Making an Impact – a summary of our work in 2025.

One of the cornerstones of the government package was a £39bn investment in the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP), to be spread over the next ten years.

The difference this will make to our members and the millions of residents they serve is immeasurable after years of underfunding and instability for the social housing sector.

Charlotte Norman, Group Chief Executive at MSV Housing Group, describes in our report how this unprecedented funding will help deliver life-changing projects.

“It will unlock schemes that have been in the planning for years, including the £60m Reno regeneration project,” she said.

“We have now submitted a planning application for 212 new, high-quality, low-carbon homes in Moss Side. The new homes will support Manchester City Council’s ambitious housing strategy, which aims to deliver at least 10,000 council, social and genuinely affordable homes by 2032.”

Bidding applications for the SAHP are now open, with the first grants due in April 2026. The government is encouraging strong, ambitious bids and has highlighted the importance of supported, rural and community-led housing, which are part of the national strategic priorities set out in the prospectuses. We urge our members to apply and help deliver much-needed, new social housing across the country.

Alongside this, the government is planning a series of further reforms to the housing market and planning system to accelerate the supply of new homes and boost economic growth.

Housing associations will be an important partner in helping the government achieve its ambitious housebuilding target of 300,000 homes through the SAPH in this Parliament. And our sector is more than up to the challenge.

However, we can’t underestimate the task in hand. Currently there is a critical shortage of social and affordable housing in many parts of the country.

The housebuilding figures that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) publish do not cover all delivery by housing associations, including those built outside of the Affordable Homes Programme or through Section 106 agreements.

To help us understand the level and breadth of development activity among housing associations, we have carried out our own member quarterly supply survey since 2016.

The survey results inform our broader political and supply strategy, as well as helping us spot any risks for our sector. We may add further questions in the future around supported housing, S106 and five-year forecasting.

Currently 210 of our members take part in the supply survey. If you are a developing housing association and don’t receive an email from us requesting your development figures, please get in touch.

We know it takes time to pull this data together but it’s a hugely valuable resource and an integral part of our public impact work. The next survey will launch in April but you can see the latest results on our website.

I’m immensely proud of what we have achieved in partnership with our members and other stakeholders to get to this point, which wouldn’t have seemed possible just a few short years ago. There is a long journey ahead of us but I’m confident that together we can build a future for social housing that will benefit people and communities for many years to come.