Spending Review 2025: A Step-Change Moment

The 11th June 2025 Spending Review marked a profound shift in the government’s approach to housing, planning, and infrastructure — placing long-term affordability, delivery certainty, and strategic investment at the centre of economic policy.

For the first time in a generation, Registered Providers (RPs), local authorities, and community housing groups are being offered the financial visibility and backing needed to tackle the housing crisis head-on. Two announcements in particular stand out for their game-changing potential: the £39bn Affordable Housing Programme over 10 years, and an additional £10bn investment aimed at unlocking stalled sites and supporting broader housing growth. Together, these initiatives form the backbone of what could become the most significant period of affordable housing delivery in decades.

£39bn Over 10 Years – Finally, a Platform for Long-Term Planning

The announcement of £39bn committed to the Affordable Housing Programme (AHP) through to 2035 provides the kind of multi-year certainty the sector has long campaigned for. Historically, affordable housing funding has been allocated in shorter 3–5 year windows, leaving RPs unable to plan strategically or invest confidently in long-term partnerships and supply chains.

This new settlement represents more than just stability — it’s a mandate to be ambitious. It enables housing associations to:

Structure longer-term development pipelines, spreading risk and resource planning over a 10-year horizon.
Enter into multi-phase land deals and infrastructure partnerships with greater financial certainty.
Embed sustainability and energy performance targets into design standards, rather than retrofitting compliance to shifting policy.
Deliver a higher proportion of social and genuinely affordable homes rather than compromising due to viability concerns.

The addition of £2bn for the 2026–27 programme year provides immediate stimulus to accelerate schemes that are already in the pipeline but delayed by cost inflation or planning uncertainty. It ensures the momentum behind this funding package is not deferred — the benefits should begin to be felt across the country in the short term.

Complementing this is the government’s commitment to a 10-year rent settlement and a consultation on rent convergence — vital for financial modelling and improving the viability of long-term developments. These policy levers will give RPs the breathing space they need to balance new investment with the ongoing maintenance of their existing housing stock.

£10bn Additional Investment – Unlocking Supply, De-Risking Delivery

To reinforce the housing delivery mission, the Chancellor also announced a £10bn boost in housing investment, to be channelled primarily through Homes England. This investment is designed to address some of the key pinch points that have historically slowed down or prevented housing schemes from progressing — including:

Land remediation and infrastructure challenges on brownfield sites.
Gap funding for projects struggling with viability in areas with lower sales values.
De-risking strategic sites where planning, infrastructure and landownership complexities create barriers to delivery.

This move shows a clear intent to empower local authorities and delivery partners to bring forward difficult sites and to build in areas that align with infrastructure, transport and economic growth plans.

It also complements the Affordable Housing Programme by encouraging mixed-tenure developments, with Homes England able to support private sector involvement that meets affordability and quality standards. For community-led initiatives, this could unlock a broader range of funding pathways, including more sophisticated partnerships with housing associations and local government.

Unanswered Questions and Challenges Ahead

While the headline commitments are extremely welcome, the Spending Review leaves a few crucial questions still on the table:

Will allocations ring-fence funding for supported housing? Older people and those with complex needs are underserved in mainstream delivery, and dedicated funding streams are needed to ensure these homes are built.
How will community-led housing fare? The announcement lacked detail on whether there will be dedicated support for grassroots and place-based housing models, which often struggle to compete for resources in traditional grant structures.
What about labour and skills? With delivery targets rising sharply, the industry must urgently address workforce shortages across trades, consultancy, and planning. Without investment in skills pipelines, programme ambition could outpace delivery capacity.

The recent review of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), coupled with a £1.2bn training and apprenticeship package, signals that the government recognises the issue — but sector coordination will be key to turning this into a tangible labour uplift.

Brookbanks: A Specialist Partner for a Changing Sector

At Brookbanks, we’ve spent decades working with Registered Providers, local authorities, and community housing organisations to unlock and deliver residential development. We see the Spending Review as a true inflection point — not just in policy, but in confidence and culture across the sector.

As a residential consultancy, we’re positioned to offer targeted, high-impact services that align with this new opportunity:

Innovative procurement advice: We help clients structure contracts that drive cost certainty, resilience, and performance.
Component-level cost modelling: By breaking projects into discrete systems, we optimise affordability and lifecycle value from the ground up.
Due diligence and risk analysis: We work with clients at pre-purchase and pre-planning stages to ensure land acquisitions are secure, viable, and aligned to emerging programme criteria.
Land partnerships and strategic introductions: Through our wide network, we connect our clients with development-ready opportunities and aligned stakeholders.

This new era of investment isn’t just about money — it’s about delivering better, smarter, and more sustainably. We’re excited to be part of that journey and look forward to helping clients turn policy into places and funding into futures.

Our team can help you navigate this Spending Review. Chat to our Commercial Director who specialises in affordable housing, or our experienced planning and development management team

Associate Director

Annabel Le Lohé

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Group Director for Development Management / Head of Yorkshire and North East Office

Tori Hall

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