Purpose

Homes England announced a Council
Housebuilding Support Fund in early July 25 with the aim to help
councils by offering new support in delivering affordable homes
through the Social and Affordable Homes Programme from 2026
onwards.
The Council Housebuilding Support Fund is designed to provide
support for councils looking to:
•Increase the number of homes they directly deliver
•establish and expand delivery partnerships and joint ventures
with registered providers or developers
develop and expand their wider pipeline of development
opportunities
•£5.5 million in revenue funding is available until 31
March 2026.
The funding will support councils looking to build capacity and
capability to submit new, ambitious bids for grant funding from the
Social and Affordable Homes Programme from 2026 onwards.
The aim is to enable councils to submit bids more quickly and at
bigger scale.
Bristol City Council have been encouraged by Homes England to
submit a bid for funding for up to the full £300k of funding
allocation per Local Authority.
Two sites in Bristol are to be put forward to be considered to
benefit from this support fund, they are:
•Dovercourt Gasworks
•Filwood Phase 2 (Existing Library, Former Swimming Pool

Content

To approve a bid submission for up to
£300k to the Homes England Council Housebuilding Support
Fund.

Alternative options considered

Currently no other source of funding is
available to remediate, prepare or assess feasibility of these
sites to bring forward for Affordable Housing Delivery