Refugee Housing Programme funding guidance

1. In December 2022, the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) launched the £500m Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) to fund local authorities to obtain up to 4,000 homes nationally for those fleeing conflict from Ukrainian and Afghan cohorts.
2. The Mayor of London is administering a £126m share of the LAHF as the Refugee Housing Programme (RHP). Through the RHP, the Mayor has committed to providing capital grant funding to local authorities and registered providers to deliver up to 630 affordable homes in London by 31 March 2024.
3. ​​​​​​​The Mayor initially opened the RHP to local authorities in April 2023. The Refugee Housing Programme Funding Guidance sets out key programme requirements, which initially applied to local authorities only. The Mayor is now open to receiving bids from private registered providers (including local authority housing companies that have registered provider status).Reference:1​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
4. ​​​​​​​Registered providers must meet all requirements set out in the Refugee Housing Programme Funding Guidance in order to be eligible for funding. This Supplementary Funding Guidance for registered providers sets out additional information for registered providers and sets out relevant amendments to the Refugee Housing Programme Funding Guidance. It also sets out considerations for local authorities seeking to partner with registered providers to deliver homes with RHP funding.

Additional requirements for registered providers

Delivery routes

Private registered providers must ensure they have the agreement of relevant local authorities to deliver accommodation in the respective local area. Registered provider applicants will be required to confirm this agreement on the GLA’s Open Project System as part of submitting a bid.

Matching households with properties

1. For larger homes (four or more bedrooms) that are acquired to enable households to move out of bridging accommodation, the GLA expects registered providers to use their relationships with local authorities, other registered providers, and staff in bridging hotels to identify and match families to suitable properties. This is to increase the chances of successful matches, as the GLA recognises that local resettlement leads are well placed to use local intelligence on households in their regions to identify suitable matches and reduce the chances of refusals.
2. Where no eligible family from bridging accommodation can be identified by the registered provider applicant, they should request that the resettlement coordinator in the relevant local authority submit a property offer request to the Home Office Local Authority Contact Officer and the London Strategic Migration Partnership (LSMP) on their behalf. If necessary, the GLA can assist registered providers to contact and liaise with the relevant local authority officer. The Home Office will then refer a potential household to be matched to the property. It will be the decision of the local authority and registered provider to accept or decline the referred household. The LSMP may assist in liaising with the Home Office if no established contact channels exist.

Further considerations for local authorities

Line by line ammendments to the RHP funding guidance

1. The Refugee Housing Programme Funding Guidance was initially limited to local authority partners. The following amendments should be read by private registered providers in conjunction with the Refugee Housing Programme Funding Guidance (as published in April 2023) to confirm their eligibility.
2. Paragraph 3.2: ‘Applicant’ is now defined as the organisation, a local authority or other registered provider, submitting the capital funding application on the GLA’s Open Project System (OPS) for a project.
3. Paragraph 4.1: The programme aims to support London boroughs and other registered providers, to provide accommodation in London for those with acute housing needs who have arrived in the UK via recent Ukrainian and Afghan resettlement schemes. The programme intends to address the immediate housing pressures faced by these cohorts, and create a new and permanent supply of affordable housing in London.
4. Paragraph 5.1: Bidding for capital grant is open to London boroughs and other registered providers of social housing.
5. Paragraph 5.2: Any successful applicant must be the direct landlord of the homes (that is, the landlord named on the tenancy agreement) and a registered provider. Local authority housing companies applying for funding through this programme must be a registered provider.
6. Paragraph 7.16: Capital grant recipient organisations, which will be the landlord of homes built with capital funding for Social or Affordable Rent from the GLA must be registered with the Regulator of Social Housing as a registered provider. Organisations must be registered before any funding can be drawn down and the accommodation is let. For more information on timescales and the registered provider application process, please see the guidance on registration. Non- registered organisations interested in delivering RHP homes are strongly encouraged to partner with another registered provider to deliver their project(s). The GLA can help broker such partnerships where required.

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