The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) does not believe that the government’s £21bn housing fund is well set-up to ensure a balanced portfolio of projects in a range of locations across the country.
In a new report, the PAC is further urging government to make plans to mitigate the impact of changes in local government structures on their approach to unlocking land for housing.
Government is aiming to deliver 1.5m new homes by July 2029. This means an average 300,000+ homes per year need to be built – levels last achieved in the 1960s.
As part of its efforts to tackle a chronic undersupply of the land it says exists for this housing, government launched the National Housing Delivery Fund (NHDF). It did so without a pipeline of projects, suggesting to the PAC that its approach is reactive and demand-led.
This has government reliant on schemes coming forward on a project-by-project basis, and leaves the PAC unconvinced that the funding will be allocated to ensure a balanced portfolio of projects in a range of locations.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has reported that as at the end of December 2025, 57,671 homes had been delivered by legacy programmes. The report further sets out concerns that neither MHCLG nor Homes England have set out how they will judge whether the NHDF has been successful, or how many homes they expect will be built on land unlocked by the NHDF, or by when. Despite representing £21bn in public money, with no clear and measurable success criteria against which to assess outcomes, MHCLG cannot robustly assess the performance of the NHDF, weakening its accountability to Parliament.
The PAC’s report also highlights the impact of local government reorganisation, which will create unitary authorities where there are currently district and county-level local authorities. Homes England acknowledged as part of the PAC’s inquiry that this reorganisation is absorbing a large amount of energy and attention.
For the NHDF, the Department has devolved £1.3bn of grant funding to the Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities through integrated settlements to support projects to unlock land for housing. As local government structures continue to change, the PAC stresses how important it is that the government and Homes England ensure funding doesn't get disrupted, accountability remains clear and that areas remain focused on delivery.
Clive Betts MP, Deputy Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “Our nation’s housing crisis has a number of complex drivers, including the loss of social housing and a failure of supply keeping pace with demand. One of the more important pieces of the puzzle for the government to solve will be opening up the supply of land which developers view currently as not attractive or profitable enough to build upon. We have all long been in desperate need of homes, and land on which to build them, so the many billions of pounds that government has put behind this effort are to be welcomed.
“However, our Committee is focused on delivery, rather than the choice to allocate funds, which in this instance have been set aside without a considered pipeline of projects ready to go. Indeed, £21 billion has been marked for housing delivery without any criteria to judge whether it has been successfully spent. We fear that at present, housing projects which advocate for themselves will benefit, while other areas in similar or even perhaps greater need may miss out, which could produce unequal outcomes in different areas of England. Such an important policy will require a strategic focus if it is to have any hope of success, and we hope the recommendations in our report help government develop one.”
