There is more public money behind housing than the sector has seen in years: a National Housing Bank with up to £16 billion of capacity, a £39 billion affordable homes programme and a 10-year rent settlement. The harder question is how to use it. The latest UK Innovation Corridor Masterclass set out to answer it.
Held on 23 June 2026, “How to integrate housing delivery” was led by Imogen Fisher (Partner) and Nez Zein (Senior Associate) from Trowers & Hamlins, alongside Gavin Winbanks from White Hawk Green, and hosted by our Chair, Jackie Sadek. The session paired the big policy picture with the deal-level mechanics of how finance is structured, drawn down and secured.
Gavin Winbanks opened with the changed role of central government, which no longer simply administers grant programmes but an investor in its own right. The clearest expression of this is the expanded Homes England and the new National Housing Bank, a government-owned subsidiary with up to £16 billion of financial capacity to support more than 500,000 homes and mobilise over £53 billion of private capital through debt, equity and guarantees.
Around this sits a wider package of measuring including the £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme running from 2026 to 2036, the £5 billion National Housing Delivery Fund to unlock land, infrastructure and stalled sites, a further £2.5 billion of low-interest loans, and a 10-year CPI+1% rent settlement that gives councils and housing associations greater certainty over income and borrowing.
The theme running all this is that public funding is increasingly absorbing early-stage land and infrastructure risk, blending grant, patient debt, equity and guarantees to make constrained or marginal schemes investable.
Imogen Fisher and Nez Zein then turned to the mechanics. They set out what is being funded (land, infrastructure and build costs) and how delivery structure shapes the funding requirement, whether a scheme sits with a council, registered provider, council-owned vehicle, private developer, or joint venture. They worked through the three core funding types of equity, debt and grant, and made the case for a robust, realistic cashflow as the baseline for any funding ask.
The session then followed the lifecycle of a facility: drawdown and utilisation, the role of the project monitor, repayment and prepayment, information undertakings, representations, financial covenants (loan to value, loan to cost and loan to gross development value), events of default and the security package.
The masterclass closed with a look ahead and specifically at the next Social and Affordable Homes Programme rounds for Homes England and the GLA, the City Hall Developer Investment Fund, and participants had an open exchange on whether the current offering meets the market’s needs.
This third masterclass in the series was a great success, and attendees left with some practical tips and knowledge that will allow them to unlock funding opportunities in the future. We are grateful for the continued support of our Knowledge Partner, Trowers and Hamlins.
