Officials explore whether money for decarbonisation could help to fund regeneration

But given the age and quality of many homes, there has been a growing call in the sector for funding to deliver regeneration. The Northern Housing Consortium’s Spending Review submission estimates that up to 100,000 social homes in the North are in areas that will need regeneration in the next 10 years.

Mr Brown revealed behind-the-scenes conversations about whether it might be possible to “push the envelope” on the WH:SHF so that it could be used for regeneration schemes, “knocking down homes that are not fit for purpose” and where it would “cost too much money to make [the homes] net-zero compliant”.

As the department’s funding is increasingly devolved, this could broaden the type of projects the WH:SHF covers. The English Devolution White Paper set out an ambition to devolve the WH:SHF to all established strategic mayoral authorities over the course of the current parliament, and to the Liverpool City Region, North East, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire by 2028 at the latest.

A number of organisation in the sector have been calling for more housing-led regeneration in towns and cities.

In its submission for the 2025 Spending Review, PlaceShapers, the network of community-focused housing associations, argued that there had been “no substantial funding to rebuild homes and communities at scale since the Housing Market Renewal programme came to an end in 2011”.

It said that good-quality regeneration would improve “quality of life, the environment, the public realm and the health of local people”.

Mr Brown’s speech also revealed further details of the department’s negotiations with the Treasury ahead of June’s Spending Review. In March, up to £1.29bn was allocated to registered providers through Wave 3 of the WH:SHF to deliver 144 projects.

He said he was now seeking “additional funding for years two and three to top up that £1.3bn of public funding and to push out for another two years, years four and five”.

“I’ve got permission from the secretary of state and the approvals in the department to do that. My bid has gone in, and I’ll be negotiating with [the] Treasury over the next few weeks,” he said.

Wave 3 of the fund had £2.1bn worth of expressions of interest, compared with the £1.3bn allocated, he added.

“We have made an offer to everyone; 143 consortia have had an offer ranging from 60%-80% of what they expressed and committed to,” he said.

Mr Brown used his speech to stress that DESNZ was looking to provide longer-term certainty to the sector in order to drive investment. That could involve a five-year window for the WH:SHF, but he also stressed that the forthcoming Warm Homes Plan, which the government aims to publish in July, “will be a 10-year plan”.

He also revealed that the department would work to ensure that funding for decarbonisation did not result in a “two-tier system, where those that are capable and are able to join up the dots and deliver against this and other agendas will power ahead, and those that are behind”.