Homes England’s has launched its National Housing Bank, which it says will lead to the development of more than 500,000 homes.

The National Housing Bank is a new government public finance institution with the authority to accelerate the delivery of new homes and communities, whilst also enabling the regeneration of towns and cities across England.

Backed by the UK government, the National Housing Bank will work with housebuilders, developers, investors and registered providers to deploy up to £16 billion of debt, equity and guarantees. The bank will also work with mayors through Homes England’s new regional model to strengthen collaborative working with partners and leaders.

A subsidiary of Homes England, the bank is aiming to support the delivery of more than 500,000 homes and a raft of major regeneration and mixed-use schemes, alongside unlocking more than £53 billion of private investment over the next 10 years.

The National Housing Bank’s launch on 1 April is supported by Homes England’s new Investment Prospectus, the agency’s single, authoritative statement of how it invests to deliver homes and regeneration. With the bank at its core, the Investment Prospectus brings together for the first time Homes England’s full range of capital products, land, powers and technical expertise in one public document – which the agency says will make it easier for local leaders and partner organisations to understand the role it and the National Housing Bank can play in delivering their pipeline of housing and mixed-use schemes.

Headquartered in Leeds, the National Housing Bank will move quickly to back shovel ready schemes. It launches with the announcement that Homes England has contracted a new £100 million partnership with Mansion House Compact signatory and Sterling 20 member, Aviva. Its lifetime objective is to build up to 3,300 well-designed and sustainable homes for rent in underinvested areas of cities, including an initial 300 in Liverpool and Manchester.

The launch of the National Housing Bank and Investment Prospectus were marked at a Homes England event attended by senior sector stakeholders in London this week.

Housing secretary Steve Reed said: “Launching England’s first ever National Housing Bank underpins a new way of doing things as we accelerate housebuilding at scale and tackle the housing crisis head on.

“Now open for business, the Bank will rake in billions of pounds of essential private investment to get spades in the ground for half a million new homes. This is just one of the many levers we’re pulling to make sure we reach our 1.5 million target this parliament.”

Homes England Chair Pat Ritchie CBE said: “The opening of the National Housing Bank and launch of the Investment Prospectus build on Homes England’s expertise at providing a wide range of finance to partners and places to unlock the delivery of new housing and mixed-use schemes.

“The National Housing Bank directly responds to calls from the housing sector, mayors and local leaders to increase the scale and flexibility of available public and private finance for housing and regeneration, to build the homes and communities our county needs.

“Our Investment Strategy puts place at the heart of how we invest, developing innovative tailored packages of support for the whole housing and regeneration system, bringing together grant, debt, equity, guarantees, land and expertise around local priorities.”

Simon Century, Chief Executive of the National Housing Bank, said: “The National Housing Bank will back delivery at scale and act at pace, providing government-backed finance to de-risk projects and unlock delivery the market cannot change alone.

“Our ambition and scale as a public finance institution creates the conditions for long-term, stable investment, focusing on delivery and giving investors confidence whilst enabling more innovative, scalable delivery models.

“With delegated authority, we will take decisions quickly and proactively, acting as an enabler, not a barrier, to the market.”