Guidance

SOAHP Addendum - Social Rent, accessible version

Updated 4 May 2022

Applies to England

Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme 2016 to 2021

Addendum to the Prospectus

June 2018

Chapter 1: Introduction

The Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme 2016 to 2021 (SOAHP 2016- 21) was launched in April 2016 through publication of a prospectus (PDF, 734kb). During the Autumn Statement in November 2016, the Government introduced additional funding for affordable housing including affordable rented homes. This was implemented in January 2017 via the publication of an Addendum to the SOAHP 2016-21 Prospectus (PDF, 246kb).

On the 4th October 2017 the Government announced the introduction of Social Rent as a tenure eligible for funding; to be focused in areas of high need. The statement announced an additional £2 billion to deliver Social Rent across the country including London, of which £1bn will be made available in London.

Following these two announcements, in June 2018 Government confirmed a total additional budget for Homes England of £1.67 billion to deliver Social Rent as well as tenures currently available through the SOAHP.

In addition to the range of tenures now available for funding under SOAHP and our existing programme, Homes England is moving towards a programme or ‘deal’ based approach with the intent to stimulate delivery through greater flexibility and confidence in availability of funding in return for a significant step change in affordable housing delivery.

On 16 May the Government announced £400m to fully fund the removal and replacement of dangerous cladding by councils and Housing Associations. This funding will come from the current SOAHP. To provide longer term certainty of grant funding for new homes £400m will be coming back into the SOAHP in 2021/22.

Invitation to Bid to Continuous Market Engagement SOAHP 2016-21

This Addendum to the Prospectus invites bids against the available funding, for the range of tenures available including Social Rent. Bidding will be assessed on an ongoing basis in a process of Continuous Market Engagement (CME). The Addendum sets out further details of the CME process. The Prospectus remains the key document for the SOAHP 2016 to 2021: its content stands unless explicitly amended (such as the January 2017 Addendum), and providers should ensure they read the Prospectus alongside both Addendums. The Prospectus also provides information on contracts and payment and on the programme management arrangements for successful bidders.

Chapter 2: Products

The published Prospectus and Addendum set out the details of the affordable housing products funded through the SOAHP i.e. Affordable Rent, Affordable Home Ownership and Rent to Buy. This addendum confirms grant funding is available for Social Rent.

Social Rent

Social Rent is low cost rental accommodation that is typically made available at rent levels that are set in accordance with the rent component of the Social Housing Regulator’s tenancy standard. Homes for Social Rent funded under the SOAHP 2016 to 2021 must be let under the terms of the tenancy and rent setting arrangements set out in the [Capital Funding Guide]((https://www.gov.uk/guidance/capital-funding-guide). Rent levels should be calculated according to a formula based on relative property values and relative local earnings.

It is a statutory requirement that the landlord of sub-market rental homes (including Social Rent, Affordable Rent and Rent to Buy homes) is a Registered Provider. Homes England operates a successful agreed transfer model allowing unregistered bodies to build such homes, and receive grant, ahead of onward transfer to a Registered Provider. This statutory requirement does not apply to Shared Ownership homes.

It is a priority for Government that funding for Social Rent is allocated to areas of greatest need.

We are therefore only inviting bids for Social Rent funding from areas that can demonstrate that they are in a high affordability pressure area. Details of how this will be assessed is contained in paragraph 23.

Funding for all other tenures will remain national, and not be subject to geographical assessment.

Registered Provider bidders with amounts in a Disposal Proceeds Fund (DPF) are reminded that funds, as directed by the Regulator, can be allocated to the acquisition and development of homes for rent and they are therefore encouraged to utilise DPF balances as part of their financial contribution to Social Rent schemes costs. Registered Providers should refer to the Regulator’s updated guidance on the management of their DPF due to de-regulatory measures introduced in April 2017.

Chapter 3: How to bid

Providers must submit their bids using the Homes England’s Investment Management System (IMS). Guidance on how to bid through IMS is available on You Tube. IMS is available for bidding as part of Continuous Market Engagement, including bids for Social Rent, from publication of this addendum onwards.

New bidders are able to apply for IMS access by telephoning our IT service desk on 01908 353604 or emailing our service desk at [email protected]. Online training on using IMS is available on You Tube and additional training for those who have completed the on-line modules is available on request.

All schemes bid through Continuous Market Engagement must be firm schemes, as defined in the Prospectus; bids for indicative schemes will not be accepted.

The Prospectus sets out:

• our information requirements relating to firm schemes
• our scheme requirements (including, in particular, our presumption against funding affordable homes provided under a S106 agreement, on a larger site developed as market housing, and the additional information requirements where an exception is proposed).

Providers can submit queries about bidding to [email protected] questions and their answers may be shared with other bidding organisations.

If you wish to discuss your bid proposal in more detail please contact your local Homes England Area office in the first instance, or phone the Homes England enquiries team on 0300 1234 500 who will redirect your call.

Bids via CME will be subject to the established assessment process considering both deliverability and value for money and in the case of Social Rent must also be in an area of high affordability pressure.

Chapter 4: Continuous Market Engagement Bid Assessment

We will assess the scheme proposals from each provider independently. Each scheme should therefore be able to stand alone, with no cross subsidy or interdependence with other schemes submitted by a provider, including where schemes are on the same site.

Bid assessment will use the same quantitative and qualitative metrics set out in the Prospectus, which emphasise value for money and deliverability.

Social Rent funding will only be available within a local authority that is subject to high affordability pressures. The key metric is the difference between average social rents and private rents and we will fund Social Rent in local authorities where the difference between these is £50 per week or more. Annex A sets out the Local Authorities in scope, and a map of the areas.

Quantitative assessment will also be used to determine the relative score of new bids against allocations made within the same Homes England Area in the initial bid round (for Shared Ownership and Rent to Buy) and in the subsequent CME for Affordable Rent.

Bids for all products will need to provide qualitative information on the use of innovative housing construction methods, as set out in the Prospectus. There are additional qualitative information requirements for Social Rent bids.

Chapter 5: Deals approach

Homes England will open discussions with Registered Providers where there is evidence of their capacity to deliver at pace and scale over and above existing commitments. Registered Providers must be able to demonstrate what additionality to Affordable Housing supply a deal based approach to funding would bring to their current contracted delivery profile.

Deal propositions will be taken forward on a bespoke basis which respond to local needs. Due diligence will be undertaken to test proposals. Interim targets for delivery on a quarterly and annual basis will be agreed as part of these discussions.

Annex 1

Adur

Arun

Ashford

Aylesbury Vale

Babergh

Basildon

Basingstoke and Deane

Bath and North East Somerset

Bedford

Birmingham

Blaby

Boston

Bournemouth

Bracknell Forest

Braintree

Breckland

Brentwood

Brighton and Hove

Bristol, City of

Broadland

Bromsgrove

Broxbourne

Bury

Cambridge

Canterbury

Castle Point

Central Bedfordshire

Chelmsford

Cheltenham

Cherwell

Chichester

Chiltern

Christchurch

Colchester

Cornwall

Cotswold

Crawley

Dacorum

Dartford

Daventry

East Cambridgeshire

East Devon

East Dorset

East Hampshire

East Hertfordshire

East Northamptonshire

Eastbourne

Eastleigh

Elmbridge

Epping Forest

Epsom and Ewell

Exeter

Fareham

Forest Heath

Gosport

Gravesham

Guildford

Harborough

Harlow

Harrogate

Hart

Havant

Hertsmere

Horsham

Huntingdonshire

King’s Lynn and West Norfolk

Leeds

Lewes

Lichfield

Luton

Maidstone

Maldon

Malvern Hills

Manchester

Medway

Mendip

Mid Devon

Mid Suffolk

Mid Sussex

Milton Keynes

Mole Valley

New Forest

Newcastle upon Tyne

North Devon

North Dorset

North Hertfordshire

North Somerset

Northampton

Oadby and Wigston

Oxford

Plymouth

Poole

Portsmouth

Purbeck

Reading

Redditch

Reigate and Banstead

Ribble Valley

Rochford

Rother

Rugby

Runnymede

Rushcliffe

Rushmoor

Rutland

Salford

Sevenoaks

Slough

Solihull

South Bucks

South Cambridgeshire

South Gloucestershire

South Hams

South Lakeland

South Norfolk

South Northamptonshire

South Oxfordshire

South Staffordshire

Southampton

Southend-on-Sea

Spelthorne

St Albans

St Edmundsbury

Stevenage

Stockport

Stratford-on-Avon

Stroud

Suffolk Coastal

Surrey Heath

Swale

Swindon

Tandridge

Teignbridge

Tendring

Test Valley

Tewkesbury

Thanet

Three Rivers

Thurrock

Tonbridge and Malling

Trafford

Tunbridge Wells

Uttlesford

Vale of White Horse

Warwick

Watford

Waverley

Wealden

Wellingborough

Welwyn Hatfield

West Berkshire

West Devon

West Dorset

West Oxfordshire

Weymouth and Portland

Wiltshire

Winchester

Windsor and Maidenhead

Woking

Wokingham

Worcester

Worthing

Wychavon

Wycombe

York

Local authority areas with average gap between weekly social and private rents above £50

The map on page 7 of the pdf has been removed because it could not be made fully accessible. Please contact [email protected] stating the name of this document if you need this information.