Out-Law News

10,000 affordable homes may be lost under changed section 106 rules, says DCLG


The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) expects that up to 10,000 planned affordable homes may not be built as a result of relaxed section 106 obligations.

The numbers were revealed by Don Foster, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for DCLG, , in a House of Commons debate last week.

Government announced plans earlier this month to remove section 106 obligations requiring developers to build affordable homes where the developers can show the obligations make the project economically unviable.

MP for Lewisham East, Heidi Alexander, asked Foster how many affordable homes will not be built as a result of this change. She pointed to figures by the National Housing Federation, which estimate that 35,000 new affordable homes are built through the section 106 process each year.

"If we do not take these steps many of the developments will not take place," Foster said.

"Nevertheless, if we go ahead with the schemes, as we hope to do, we estimate that around 10,000 affordable homes might be lost through section 106 agreements, which is why we have put in place a funding scheme that will provide more than 15,000 additional properties and bring a further 5,000 empty properties back into use. We will get double what was going to be lost," he said.

Along with the plans to relax section 106 obligations, the Government announced that it would pledge £300 million capital funding towards building 15,000 affordable homes and bringing 5,000 homes back into use.

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