The Government is expected to announce more than £1 billion in additional funding for social and affordable housing in England when Chancellor John Healey delivers the Budget on Wednesday 28 October.
According to reporting by the Press Association and BBC, the funding would take the Government’s ten-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme above £40 billion. The Treasury has also signalled plans to extend preferential borrowing rates to more councils seeking to invest in housebuilding.
What has been announced?
The package has been outlined ahead of the Budget, but the full funding terms and detailed allocations are not yet published. The announcement should therefore be treated as a pre-Budget commitment rather than expenditure already approved or homes already delivered.
Reporting in the Daily Mirror suggests the investment could support up to 10,000 council homes. That is a projected potential outcome, not a confirmed construction programme or completion target; the eventual number will depend on costs, allocations and delivery.
Housing programme and council borrowing
The existing ten-year programme was set out at £39 billion in an August 2026 government policy paper. The proposed additional investment would lift the headline programme total above £40 billion. Councils would also be offered wider access to preferential borrowing rates to support new building, although the Government has not yet set out all eligibility conditions.
A Treasury spokesperson said the Budget would pursue more investment in affordable housing and make it easier for councils to borrow to build. Housing charity Shelter welcomed the reported investment while arguing that additional measures were needed to increase the supply of social-rent homes.
Questions for Wednesday’s Budget
The Budget documents will need to clarify precisely how much funding is newly allocated, how much is included in existing plans, the profile of spending over the ten-year period, and how much will support social-rent properties rather than other affordable tenures. The Government has not yet published a definitive cost-per-home estimate for the proposed package.
The Chancellor is scheduled to address the House of Commons at approximately 12.30pm on Wednesday 28 October, after Prime Minister’s Questions.