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Housing minister, John Healey, confirmed investment for affordable homes to date topped £1bn this week, even as there were warnings that future funding could slacken. The minister announced that £50m was being allocated to projects stalled by the credit crunch for more than 2,000 homes on 27 sites in the Midlands and the North. The Kickstart funding, through the Homes and Communities Agency, follows £400m allocated last month. Mr Healey said: ‘The cash I'm announcing means government help for house building since June has now hit £1bn. I'm determined that this pace of investment will continue in coming months.' He also stressed that all firms applying for funding must provide details of how they intended hiring apprentices and local labour. But, at last week's Future of London conference, HCA London director, David Lunts, warned that the agency's funding would dip next year, as some future spending had been brought forward to tackle the recession. HCA chief executive, Sir Bob Kerslake, also told the event that anxieties about the housing market were being replaced by concern over public spending and political uncertainty. Although welcoming a recovery in the housing market, Sir Bob warned: ‘The market is extremely fragile. ‘The rate of activity is dramatically lower than in 2007.' Referring to the HCA's role in helping stalled housing projects he added: ‘We had to keep the show on the road. ‘Now we have to focus on the next five years and recognise that we won't come out of the downturn looking the same as we went in.'

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Warnings as homes spending tops £1bn

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