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Where does the money for social homes come from? The honest answer is that most of it is not venture capital. It is a mix of government grant, borrowing by housing providers and, increasingly, public-backed finance designed to bring in private investors.
Grant: the Social and Affordable Homes Programme
In November 2025 the government launched guidance for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme 2026 to 2036. Housing LIN reports £39bn across Homes England's and the Greater London Authority's 10-year programmes, with up to £17.1bn for London. Housing associations and strategic partners, including mayors, receive capital funding to build new homes with, in the programme's words, greater certainty over the funding.
Finance: the National Housing Bank
The National Housing Bank is a subsidiary of Homes England, headquartered in Leeds. It offers up to £16bn in debt, equity and guarantees. Reporting on its launch says Homes England and the bank together have up to £46bn of capital over the next decade, including £27bn for social and affordable housing grant. Its stated aims include more than 500,000 homes over ten years and more than £53bn of private investment unlocked.
Its chief executive, Simon Century, described the bank as "acting as an enabler, not a barrier, to the market". Homes England's chief executive, Amy Rees, told partners and investors: "please get in touch and talk to us."
A Liverpool example
One of the bank's first projects is a partnership with Aviva in Liverpool and Manchester, with an initial £100m commitment for 300 homes and potential to reach 3,300, according to the same reporting. Liverpool City Region's Place Delivery Agreement also names the bank as a party, and refers to up to £16bn of debt, equity and guarantee products behind it.
What this means
For readers new to housing finance, three points help:
- Grant lowers the cost of building homes that rent at social levels.
- Debt and guarantees let providers borrow against their assets and income.
- Equity and public-private partnerships bring in investors who expect a return over time.
Venture capital, which backs early-stage businesses, tends to sit somewhere else in this picture, for example in firms developing new ways to build or manage homes. We look at that in a separate article.