Unlocking land for housing

Status / emerging findings

• 57,671 homes reported completed through legacy programmes by December 2025, but the NAO has not yet verified this figure; the Department plans 12-month retrospective verification using geospatial imaging for ~70% of sites lacking formal boundary records.
• The new £20 billion National Housing Delivery Fund launched April 2026 with three equity deals completed and £1.5 billion devolved to mayoral authorities, but no numerical housing targets have been set for the fund.
• Committee pressed witnesses hard on absence of firm milestones and accountability measures; MHCLG explicitly declined to commit to specific housing numbers, citing need for 'flexibility'.
• Tension between reported pipeline activity and lack of binding targets suggests institutional reluctance to face delivery scrutiny.

Why it matters

With £30.5 billion committed to housing delivery, the UK needs confidence this money will translate into homes rather than sitting in pipelines; without firm targets or verified baselines, Parliament cannot hold the Government accountable for results.

Tone arc

Started procedural (reviewing fund deployment mechanics) but became adversarial when committee discovered absence of numerical targets and questioned the robustness of retrospective verification methodology for legacy programme claims.

Key witnesses

Sarah Healey (MHCLG), Joanna Key (Homes England), Amy Rees (mayoral authority representative), Alison Crofton (mayoral authority representative), Cathy Francis (MHCLG)