Billions of pounds allocated to tackle Britain’s housing crisis has been returned to the Treasury because the housing department was unable to find projects to fund.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) was unable to find projects for the £1.9bn of funding budgeted for 2022-23.

This amounts to a third of DLUHC’s housing budget, and includes £255m meant to fund new affordable homes and £245m intended to support improvements to building safety following the Grenfell Tower fire, according to the figures first published by the Guardian.

The failure to spend money is likely due in part to rising interest rates and uncertainty in the housing market making it difficult to find projects to fund.

Around £1.2bn earmarked for Help to Buy was also handed back in the last year of the scheme’s operation due to lower-than-expected demand.

When departments fail to spend money budgeted for a given year, they can “reprofile” the spending into future years.

DLUHC has done this with another £363m that was meant to be spent on affordable homes in 2022-23 but will now be spent in 2023-24.

Awaab Ishak: Toddler’s death from mould triggers review of landlord guidance

House prices: Growth slows with higher mortgage rates especially impacting more expensive areas

House prices drop at fastest rate since financial crash in 2008

The money must be surrendered to the Treasury if the spending is delayed beyond the next spending review, which could come in 2024.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Lisa Nandy, Labour’s shadow housing secretary, said: “This absolutely beggars belief. We are in the middle of an acute housing crisis, even the Housing Secretary says the system is ‘broken’, and yet the Government was unable to spend a third of its housing budget.

“The Tories have simply given up.”

A DLUHC spokesperson said: “These are multi-year funding programmes that are being spent flexibly – meaning some money can be moved into future years depending on demand and the wider economic climate.”

Read more:
UK not an ‘Amazon’ delivery service for weapons to Ukraine, says defence secretary Ben Wallace
Teacher strikes: NASUWT union raises prospect of strikes during autumn term
Jeremy Vine ‘worried’ about BBC presenter’s ‘state of mind’

The Government missed its target of building 300,000 new homes annually in 2022 by around 100,000.

But campaigners fear a recent decision to scrap housing targets means the Government will struggle to keep its promise.

Related posts:

Gove visits Israel to study country’s ‘green pass’ as he mulls vaccine passport Polls close in crucial by-election that could pile pressure on Starmer Starmer gets ‘house in order’ but can he start to close gap between Labour and Tories in voters’ eyes? Warning of redundancies as £70bn furlough scheme ends Major economies not doing ‘their fair share’ on climate, Johnson warns Politicians with ‘poor ethical standards’ should face tougher sanctions such as fines and resignations, review finds Who is Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty – and why are her family so wealthy? PM meets Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and family in Downing Street Brussels ‘unreasonable’ over Northern Ireland post-Brexit trade rules, says business secretary Chair of ethics watchdog says MPs should be forced to exercise more ‘due diligence’ over donations Labour’s standard bearer of the left is sticking with Sir Keir in the centre ground to win power Cleverly heads to US for talks on Ukraine after escalation of Russia attacks