Corporate report

Homes England Annual Report 2021 to 2022: Chair's Foreword, accessible version

Updated 3 August 2022

Applies to England

Peter Freeman, CBE

During the past year, Homes England has continued to develop its capability and deliver government policy. Against a challenging economic background, we’ve continued to maximise the delivery of new homes across the country for people with a wide variety of needs.

Whilst boosting housing supply across England remains an important focus for the Agency, our role is increasingly about more than making homes happen – it is about creating sustainable, thriving places that foster a sense of community and pride and can better connect people to employment opportunities and provide the amenities they need.

This was made clear in the Levelling Up White Paper, published earlier this year, which – among other things – set out our role in achieving the Government’s plans to reduce economic disparity and create equal opportunities across the country to ensure communities reach their full potential. It specified that Homes England would be repurposed to have a more explicit and material focus on the regeneration of towns and cities, in addition to our existing housing supply and home ownership functions. Places and people are at the heart of our future approach.

We welcome this enlarged mandate. We also understand that quality and good design is at the heart of creating sustainable, successful communities, and that the way we develop neighbourhoods, towns and cities is key to our safety and our health and wellbeing, as well as to our economic growth.

Property-led regeneration – especially in an urban context – is in our DNA. The regeneration of Warwick Bar, a collection of derelict and brownfield sites that we’ve assembled in recent years in Birmingham’s Digbeth district, is just one example. In February, we agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with development firm Digbeth Loc Limited and their partners to help bring the MasterChef studios out of London to our Warwick Bar site. Moving a major TV production facility out of London to the heart of the West Midlands will create unparalleled new opportunities, jobs and investment, kickstarting a new creative heart for Birmingham and setting the stage for others in the industry to follow.

Large scale regeneration projects such as this aren’t possible without the Agency working closely with private sector partners. That’s why in March we reconfirmed our commitment to the English Cities Fund, our long-term partnership with Legal & General and Muse to transform deprived urban areas and create exceptional new places across England, for a further 10 years to December 2036. Not only will this enable an additional 6,600 homes to be built, but it means the partnership can continue to reinvest its capital into new, long-term urban regeneration schemes that will support the Levelling Up of towns and cities.

As we pivot our operations to best support the Government’s Levelling Up ambitions, we know that a more place-based way of working will be key. We’re focusing on how we can use our extensive statutory and soft powers to partner with local leaders to unlock barriers and drive forward regeneration.

For example in Sheffield, we’ve been working closely with local stakeholders to develop a bespoke housing solution. Last December we formed the Housing Growth Board in partnership with Sheffield City Council, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, the Sheffield Property Association, and local housing associations to work collaboratively and establish new ways of partnership working to support the delivery of more new homes in Sheffield.

In Wolverhampton, the Agency is working with the City of Wolverhampton Council and the West Midlands Combined Authority to utilise collective expertise and investment tools to unlock new homes; exploring how a delivery vehicle, supported by investment from the partners, might create new residential and commercial uses in the City Centre. While in Blackpool, Homes England has been formally commissioned to conduct the Blackpool Regeneration Study. The study, agreed with government and Blackpool Town Council, will establish a comprehensive evidence base for physical regeneration of the built environment in Blackpool, which will underpin the development of opportunities for investment for reshaping inner Blackpool.

We’ve also launched a new pilot initiative, Strategic Place Partnerships. We’ve signed Memorandums of Understanding with the Association of South Essex Local Authorities and Greater Manchester, which will see us working collaboratively with these places to jointly prepare a business plan, agree priorities, create a shared pipeline of opportunities for intervention and to make best use of our existing resources.

In addition to bringing the private and public sector together to deliver transformative regeneration projects, we work together to support the delivery of new, mixed-tenure affordable housing. In particular, we’re committed to demonstrating the potential of the sector to institutional investors.

That’s why we invested £20 million in Man Group’s Community Housing Fund last Spring, part of a wider equity raising exercise by Man to build a £400 million fund to deliver over 3,000 new homes. The Fund is a game changer for collaboration between housing associations and institutional investors, and our participation will be a genuine catalyst for inward investment for new affordable homes.

The Agency has also supported more than 32,000 households into home ownership through Help to Buy over the last year, successfully transitioning from the original scheme to the 2021 to 2023 programme. As the scheme draws to a close in March 2023 and our role evolves into one of long-term stewardship of the Help to Buy portfolio, our priority is on maintaining our exemplary delivery to customers. Help to Buy was introduced ten years ago as a short term intervention following the global financial crisis. It’s important to reflect on the incredible scale of intervention delivered over these years to people who needed help to access their own home, and I’d like to take a moment to thank all of our Help to Buy staff for their continued dedication.

Five years on from Grenfell the country still has a big job to do in order to make tall buildings safe for residents and to get the housing market moving again for people who can’t sell. I’m pleased that we were asked to partner government in managing the Funds dedicated to remediating unsafe cladding systems. We will continue to apply our expertise in this area and be part of the Government’s efforts to address the issues facing leaseholders, working to reduce their important concerns regarding their safety and financial position.

Last year the Agency welcomed a new Chief Executive, Peter Denton. I’d like to officially welcome him to the Agency, and to thank Gordon More for stepping up as Interim Chief Executive and providing strong leadership in the months leading up to Peter’s appointment.

Peter Denton’s experience in leading change at Hyde, combined with his clear social commitment, his exceptional experience in commercial finance and his passion for innovation made him the ideal candidate to lead the Agency through its next stage. He also brings experience in shaping a positive and diverse workplace culture, which is invaluable as we continue to advance our equality, diversity and inclusion agenda. He’s already had a clear impact on the organisation, and I’m confident in his ability to lead the Agency as we pivot our strategy and operations to meet the Government’s housing and regeneration objectives.

To help steer the Agency through this change, we’ve also appointed four new Board members this year, including a former housing minister, a housing association CEO, Newcastle City Council’s last CEO and a board member of a FTSE100 company. Lord Ian Austin of Dudley, Mark Henderson, Pat Ritchie CBE and Lesley-Ann Nash all bring a wealth of skills, knowledge and experience to the Board. Having Board members with a diverse set of skills and experience from across the sector will ensure the Agency’s activity is even more impactful to the people, businesses and communities we serve. The other Board members and I are really looking forward to working and collaborating with them as the Agency works to deliver on the Government’s housing and regeneration ambitions.

We know the next year will bring its challenges, with continued economic uncertainty fuelled by the situation in Ukraine, and we’ve discussed the key macro-economic risks in more detail within this report, but I believe the Agency is in a good position with strong leadership to help navigate these challenges.

Finally, I’d like to take a moment to say thank you to all of Homes England’s staff, and everyone who has worked with the Agency in the last year, for your continued, tireless commitment to supplying new homes, creating vibrant places and championing quality and sustainability.

As we look to the year ahead, our aim is to become an even stronger agency; supporting the Government’s Levelling Up agenda and using resources to work strategically across the country to create high quality homes, economic growth, and long-term place-based partnerships.