Affordable Housing Business Case

Housing and Transport Business Case
Dr Eilya Torshizian

Evaluating Affordable Housing Investment: Evidence, Options, and Economic Trade-offs

This forthcoming report examines how affordable housing investment options can be evaluated using robust, policy-aligned economic frameworks. It focuses on the challenge faced by decision-makers in comparing alternative housing delivery and financing approaches where impacts extend beyond direct fiscal costs to include long-term wellbeing, productivity, and distributional effects. The paper adopts an applied economic perspective consistent with the Treasury’s Better Business Case guidance.

The analysis explores how different housing typologies, tenure mixes, and complementary development components perform under consistent baselines. Particular attention is given to option definition, additionality, and displacement effects, as well as the distinction between short-term activity impacts and long-term structural outcomes. The work demonstrates how economic evaluation can move beyond single-option validation to structured comparison that supports genuine choice.

The paper also considers how economic evidence interfaces with strategic intent, commercial delivery, and financial constraints. Rather than treating the economic case in isolation, it highlights the importance of alignment between economic outcomes, feasible delivery pathways, and funding structures—ensuring that appraisal results are decision-relevant and credible in a central-government assurance context.