£9.58bn housing fund will build 73,600 homes outside London as Ealing awaits its own allocation

The government has announced a first £9.58bn allocation from a 10-year programme to support 73,600 social and affordable homes outside London.

The funding is being given to 33 strategic partners, mainly housing associations, with Cambridge City Council, Eastleigh Borough Council and Newcastle City Council also included for the first time.

Almost two-thirds of the homes supported by this allocation are expected to be for Social Rent. The wider programme aims for at least 60% of homes to be provided at Social Rent levels.

The first allocation is not the full £39bn programme. More than £16bn is still to be distributed outside London, while the capital will receive a separate allocation through the Greater London Authority.

The GLA intends to offer providers at least £6bn. More than half of the homes delivered in London through the programme are expected to come from councils rather than housing associations, but no specific number for London was included in the announcement.

That distinction matters to Ealing residents. The council’s housing register had 7,813 households on it at 31 March 2025, compared with 7,419 a year earlier. The council also describes the register as having more than 7,500 households.

Around 75 new applications are received each week, while about 600 properties become available for letting each year. The council’s published figures give estimated waiting times of around 507 days for one-bedroom homes, 1,044 days for two-bedroom homes and 2,433 days for four-bedroom homes.

The figures mean the announcement is unlikely to provide immediate housing for families in Ealing, Southall or Northolt. Funding for London still has to be allocated, and new homes will take years to build.

Social Rent is different from the wider term affordable housing. Affordable housing can include Affordable Rent, which can reach 80% of market rent, shared ownership and supported or sheltered housing.

The programme also includes 10 years of funding certainty for strategic partners, £46m over three years to strengthen council housing skills, and plans allowing councils to retain 100% of Right to Buy receipts. Further funding rounds are expected through continuous market engagement.

There is currently no announced list of specific developments in Ealing or west London, and the allocation does not guarantee that all 73,600 homes will be completed on schedule.

Residents cannot apply directly to this national programme. Applications for social housing continue through local housing registers, including Ealing’s Locata system, and through housing associations.

The next developments to watch are the GLA’s London allocations, Ealing Council’s housing plans and the use of funding and developer contributions for schemes in areas including Southall, Acton, Greenford and Northolt.