The Homes and Communities Agency this week approved funding for 91 housing developments under the first wave of the government鈥檚 拢925m Kickstart programme, announced in July

A further 63 schemes have been approved for the programme, which aims to get stalled residential developments off the ground, subject to 鈥渇urther conditions being met鈥� or 鈥渞equiring further consideration鈥�.

As a result, 拢207m will now be allocated to directly fund 6,618 new and affordable homes. A further 拢241m could be allocated to another 5,144 homes, if the 63 conditionally approved schemes get final sign-off.

Thirty-five schemes were not approved for funding as they did not meet the HCA鈥檚 criteria for the programme, 鈥減articularly on design and value for money grounds鈥�.

Schemes that could qualify under the first tranche of Kickstart funding have to be non-viable in the current economic climate and developers would have to complete homes by March 2011.

There remains about 拢500m of government funding for the next round of Kickstart. The HCA confirmed that it has now received more than 660 bids for funding under this second round.

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