The government has committed £3.3bn to affordable housing over the three years from 2015, cutting the current affordable homes programme to fund 165,000 new houses instead of 170,000.

Treasury secretary Danny Alexander committed the government to £3.3bn in funding for affordable housing for the three years from 2015-16 to 2017-18. He also announced a new Affordable Rent to Buy scheme, with £250m available in 2015-16 and £150m in 2016-17 to support new affordable housing for rent and eventual sale.

Other housing announcements in the infrastructure plan included:

  • £160m of funding in 2015-16 for Decent Homes, targeting areas with the largest number of non-decent homes
  • £102m of loan and equity finance in 2015-16 to meet upfront infrastructure requirements that will enable housing projects to proceed
  • The sale of £5bn of public land and property over the next parliament, with the sale of land centralised in the Homes and Communities Agency.