Budget Watch: (4) Green finance estate improvement, safety and environmental programmes

Another important government priority is upgrading the existing housing stock to meet decent homes and energy commitments. Savills have estimated the cost of decarbonising social housing stock at £3.5billion per year.

There is a real opportunity to harness Environmental (ESG) and green finance and investment to meet the need to upgrade homes under a structured government programme. This could be delivered by updating the estate regeneration programmes of the past to meet modern needs. The Housing & Finance Institute have been working on how such a new government programme could work.

In addition, household based financial incentives to support environmental upgrades have worked well in the past as researched by the Resolution Foundation. Continuing to provide effective support and access to finance for housing stock upgrades across the private sector (both rental and ownership) will be key to meet the country's future commitments in this area.