The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has announced that 42 councils and housing associations will receive a share of more than £75m from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to offer free efficiency upgrades to nearly 9,000 homes across England.
The move is expected to save the average social housing tenant £400 a year on energy bills, as well as support 1,300 jobs in the country’s retrofit industry.
The upgrades will reach 8,800 homes and feature things like insulation, double glazing and heat pumps.
This latest round of funding will bring a new cohort of social housing landlords into the scheme, ensuring as many tenants benefit as possible.
The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund has already delivered over £1bn since 2019, with local authorities up and down the country benefiting from upgrades.
Nearly half of all homes in England now have an EPC rating of ‘C’ or above, which is a jump from just 14% in 2010.
Kate Henderson, the chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “The funding announced today will give housing associations the certainty and confidence they need to plan and deliver more retrofit projects, tackle fuel poverty, and improve their residents’ homes.”
Over the course of this parliament and the next, the government will allocate approximately £20bn to improve the energy efficiency and low carbon heating of homes and businesses.
Applicants to the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, which is aiming to reach 100,000 homes, are required to co-fund their projects. The total value of co-funding from wave 2.2 of the fund is worth £139m.
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