The funding is part of the flagship £1 billion Build to Rent fund, which for the first time offers support for developers and investors looking to branch into the private rental market.
Prisk said this new scheme, alongside up to £10 billion in government housing guarantees, will encourage people to invest in the untapped private rental market and offer greater choice and quality of homes for prospective tenants.
One scheme has already been given the green light, with work already started on the Centenary Quay development in Southampton with hundreds of new homes being built specifically for rent.
Prisk explained that the government wants to offer more choice and flexibility to private sector tenants, and the best bids for the Build to Rent fund should support longer term tenancies as part of the mix of accommodation being provided under the scheme.
‘The housing market is turning the corner, with starts up a third compared to last year, and over 25,000 households helped into home ownership since 2010. But I want to go further, which is why I’m inviting bids for a share of up to half a billion pounds to help build a bigger, better private rented sector,’ he said.
‘This funding, combined with up to £10 billion in our housing guarantees schemes, will help build on successes like Centenary Quay in Southampton to offer greater choice and quality for tenants across the country,’ he added.
The Build to Rent fund is one of a number of government backed measures designed to get Britain building across the housing market. Prisk said that the measures have resulted in the building of 334,000 new homes in England over the past three years, putting new housing supply at its highest level since 2008.
Also over 150,000 new affordable homes built over the past three years due to the wide range of affordable housing programmes with more funding expected to help bring about the fastest rate of affordable house building for two decades. And over 25,000 households helped into home ownership through a range of schemes, including Help to Buy, NewBuy and the reinvigorated Right to Buy.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has said that the city needs tens of thousands of new homes with around a quarter of Londoners living in private rented accommodation.
‘By releasing land and working with institutional investors we are working hard to accelerate delivery in the purpose built private rented sector. I welcome this fund which will not only provide more homes for working Londoners, but also deliver much needed construction jobs and will underpin this city’s future economic growth,’ said Johnson.
Chairman of the Private Rented Sector taskforce Andrew Stanford said that the funding will be a further significant boost to kick starting the sector. ‘The taskforce is here to help bring partners together throughout this phase of funding. Do get in touch if we can help,’ he explained.
The private rented sector has a key role to play in increasing the supply of new homes, according to Andy Rose, chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency. ‘There was strong appetite the first time round and we are looking forward to seeing an even higher level of interest and quality of proposition this time,’ he added.