The government is planning to introduce an ‘affordable housing holiday’ for developers as part of a major stimulus package intended to kick-start house building to be announced tomorrow. It could last between a year and three years and will enable developers to drop planning obligations to build affordable housing to make schemes viable and boost housing starts.
The Treasury will provide hundreds of millions of pounds to pay for the replacement of around 20,000 affordable homes, that would be lost as a result. It is not yet confirmed but could impact on the government’s £1.8 billion affordable homes programme.
Under current section 106 agreements developers are bound to deliver community benefits, infrastructure and affordable housing alongside housing for market sale.