On 24 July 2023, both the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak and the Housing & Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove gave commitments to meet the Conservative Government’s target of building 1 million new homes over the course of the current Parliament.

For almshouses, there were a number of specific points to note within these announcements, especially the focus on a more locally and community driven approach to new housebuilding.

  1. “Development should proceed on sites that are adopted in a local plan with full input from the local community, unless there are strong reasons why it cannot.”
  2. “Better use should be made of small pockets of brownfield land by being more permissive, so more homes can be built more quickly, where and how it makes sense, giving more confidence and certainty to SME builders.”
  3. Consultation on Permitted Development Rights, to convert redundant commercial properties in town and city centres to residential.
  4. Establishing the Office for Place in Stoke-on-Trent, a new body to lead a design revolution, ensuring beautiful new homes are built according to a simple design code supported by local people. The Office for Place will support residents to demand what they find beautiful from developers – ensuring every local place is built to reflect the individual local character and beauty of every community across the country.
  5. £800 million allocated from the Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land fund to unlock.

Almshouses have a proud track record of providing focused community housing in line with local needs and as such the announcement could provide greater scope and opportunities for new almshouses.

The Almshouse Association will be carrying out a Census of our member Almshouse Charities this autumn and the information you provide will be key to helping us to help you, by raising awareness of the good work you do for your local communities with Members of Parliament, Local Councils and Councillors.

posted 10 August 2023