Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has extended the £9bn Affordable Homes Programme by a year, giving housing associations and councils more time to begin builds.
Recipients of grant funding were required to have shovels in the ground by March 2022. Jenrick has moved the deadline to March 2023, following construction delays during the coronavirus pandemic.
The government said the building of some 53,000 affordable homes has stalled during lockdown.
The new deadline will only apply to homes which are contracted for delivery as part of the £9bn Affordable Homes Programme.
A new funding programme will launch next year with some £12bn to be provided over five years as part of an eight-year initiative.
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