Starmer welcomes £550m housing investment with vow to remove planning obstacles

Sir Keir Starmer has welcomed private investment of £550 million to make it easier for people to find a home.

Schroders, Man Group and Resonance announced new impact investment funds on Tuesday – pots of money that aim to create social or environmental impact.

These will help to address directly the shortage of homes by supporting the building of tens of thousands of new homes across the UK, the Treasury said.

The Prime Minister told BBC Breakfast: “We’ve said as a Government we’re going to fix the foundations, rebuild our country, and expressly saying ‘now is the time to back us’.

“Companies and investors are coming in today saying ‘here’s half a billion pounds’. We want to raise that, by the way, I want that to be up over £1 billion before too long.”

The money would fund construction across the country because “too many people”, especially the young, “want to get on the housing ladder because they know that owning your own home is sort of base camp for their aspirations in life”.

“They haven’t had that for many years because the last government failed.

“We’re determined to knock away the obstacles on this, whether it’s planning or anything else, but also take the opportunities. And these are the opportunities for housing for many people who can’t afford to own their own homes.”

Meanwhile the Government has announced that councils will receive £68 million to help build thousands of homes on disused brownfield sites.

The money, spread around 54 local authorities, is expected to deliver 5,200 homes on sites such as former car parks and industrial land that can be difficult to build on.

It comes as the Government looks to unlock investment to deliver on its aims to build 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones is also preparing to host a roundtable with investors at Downing Street on Tuesday as part of efforts to foster public-private partnerships that can address social and environmental challenges, including affordable housing.

Schroders, M&G, International Bank of America, Blackrock and Barclays are all expected to attend, the Treasury said.

Mr Jones said: “Investors tell us they want to help in delivering a better Britain.

“Working in partnership with government, social impact investing can change people’s lives and improve communities across the country.

“We are dedicated to creating the right environment for impact investment across the country, and the announcement of over half a billion pounds worth of impact investment building tens of thousands of new homes is a great example of the change that we are delivering on.”

Schroders, one of the UK’s largest investment managers, confirmed a new £50 million allocation from Homes England, into its recently launched real estate impact fund on Tuesday.

This fund has an initial target of raising £200m and ultimately aims to deliver 5,000 new homes, with plans to make its first investments before the end of 2024.

It is focused on helping to deliver more social and affordable housing, regenerate town centres and invest in social infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Man Group, a London-headquartered global alternative investment management firm, said it will invest £100 million to deliver affordable and environmentally sustainable housing for communities across England, with 90% of homes to be designated as affordable housing.

This investment will have a particular focus on delivering homes with a low carbon footprint and addressing the housing needs of key and essential workers.

And Resonance, a social impact property fund manager, announced plans for a 300% increase in investment – from £79m to £250m – into its initiative to tackle homelessness.

This directly channels investment into residential property to help create pathways out of temporary accommodation for individuals and families.

The firm has set a target of reaching £1 billion in investment in this area in the next five years.