Is the City Hall Developer Investment Fund still open?

It closed to new grant expressions of interest at 11:59pm on 13 October 2026. It remains open for debt and equity investment proposals until the GLA says otherwise.

Who can apply to the City Hall Developer Investment Fund?

London boroughs, other public bodies and publicly owned organisations, registered providers of social housing, and private developers that are UK-registered companies. Projects must be in Greater London.

What can the fund pay for?

Capital costs only, such as land and enabling works, site remediation, infrastructure, capitalised fees and construction, and viability gap funding.

Submit an expression of interest through the GLA Open Project System (GLA OPS). Registered organisations can sign in, and others can request access.

City Hall Developer Investment Fund: A Plain Guide

Q: How big is the City Hall Developer Investment Fund?

The initial allocation is £324 million, with a shared goal of committing funding for at least 5,000 homes by March 2029. The GLA hopes to grow it with more Government investment.

The City Hall Developer Investment Fund (CHDIF) is a London housing fund set up by the Mayor of London and the Government. It aims to get stalled or slow housing schemes moving and to increase the number of social and affordable homes. It is a big fund aimed at housing developers and public bodies, not a community grant, so this guide sets out plainly who it is for, what changed on 13 October 2026, how projects are scored and what smaller organisations might look at instead. Everything here comes from the Greater London Authority's (GLA) own pages on london.gov.uk, checked on the date shown on this page.

What the fund is

The GLA says the CHDIF is a £324 million fund created to boost housing delivery in the capital. It was announced in October 2025 as part of a package of support for housebuilding in London, and the initial money comes from the National Housing Delivery Fund. The GLA and the Government share a goal of committing funding for at least 5,000 homes by March 2029, and the GLA says it hopes to grow the fund with more Government investment.

The fund is meant for housing that would not come forward without GLA support, or would come forward more slowly or at a smaller scale. It can invest in several ways: grants, loans at below-market interest rates, equity, or a mix. The GLA says it will decide the most suitable type of investment for each project during due diligence.

The grant closure on 13 October 2026

This is the most important recent change. The GLA announced that the fund would close to new expressions of interest (EOIs) for grant funding at 11:59pm on Tuesday 13 October 2026. The fund stays open to debt and equity investment proposals, but no new grant EOIs are accepted.

Even before the closure, grant was meant to be the exception. The GLA says it will only direct grant to projects that meet the highest strategic priorities, where grant is the only answer to viability problems or can reduce the risk of investing in strategic projects. Projects that repay the GLA's investment in full score highest on repayment.

Our City Hall Developer Investment Fund listing shows the grant closing date. If you are considering a loan or equity proposal, check the GLA page for the latest position.

Timeline so far

The GLA has published these dates for the fund:

Date	What happened
October 2025	Fund announced as part of a London housebuilding package
27 March 2026	Expressions of interest opened
26 May 2026	Assessment and project selection started
June to July 2026	First selected projects moved into detailed due diligence and final approval
13 October 2026	Closed to new grant expressions of interest

The GLA had encouraged organisations to submit early, because assessment started promptly from 26 May 2026 and its officers could ask for more information from the point an EOI was submitted. The same applies to loan and equity proposals now.

Who can apply

EOIs can come from:

London boroughs
other public bodies and publicly owned organisations
registered providers of social housing
any private-sector developer that is a UK-registered company

Every project must be in Greater London and have an evidenced reason why public sector support is needed.

What it can pay for

The fund only covers capital expenditure. The GLA lists examples, while saying the list is not complete:

land acquisition and enabling works
site remediation
on-site and off-site infrastructure needed for housing
capitalised fees and construction costs
viability gap funding, possibly alongside affordable housing grant from the London Social and Affordable Homes Programme 2026 to 2036 or another affordable homes programme

Any funding must comply with the UK's subsidy control rules.

What it prioritises

The GLA's priority is homes that reach practical completion by summer 2029 or earlier, although it encourages any project that meets the criteria to apply. It says it will prioritise projects, or phases of projects, delivering 100 or more homes. Only homes that are net additions to the housing stock count, so replacement homes for ones demolished as part of the scheme do not.

How projects are scored

The GLA scores every eligible EOI against common criteria, in three groups.

Area	Weight	What it looks at
Strategic fit	30%	Location and policy context (15%), new social and affordable housing (10%), private investment (5%)
Deliverability	40%	Completion by summer 2029 (20%), status of land (10%), delivery strategy (10%)
Value for money	30%	Funding strategy, cost per home, additionality and repayment (7.5% each)

A few details stand out:

Completion by summer 2029. Projects judged able to complete by then automatically receive the 20% of marks for this part of deliverability.
Additionality. You must show that the homes would not happen without GLA support, or would happen more slowly or on a smaller scale, with a clear baseline. The GLA says failing to show any additionality means the submission fails and is non-compliant.
Small businesses. Under location and policy context, the GLA asks for evidence of whether the proposal supports small and medium-sized enterprises and new ways of delivering homes.
Affordable housing. You need a tenure breakdown and evidence that the scheme meets local affordable housing policy, and those delivering affordable homes should already have discussed the project with the GLA.

How to apply

EOIs are submitted through the GLA's Open Project System, known as GLA OPS. Organisations that are not registered can request access there. The GLA then follows three stages:

Initial assessment. Eligible EOIs are scored and prioritised, and the highest-scoring projects move on.
Due diligence and structuring. Legal, financial and property checks, including anti-money laundering and know your customer checks. This stage settles the funding structure and whether the money can be repaid.
Final approval and contracting.

The GLA expects the organisation that submitted the EOI to pay the GLA's consultancy and legal costs for stages 2 and 3, so budget for that. Our guide to expression of interest applications covers how to make a short first submission count, and a grant application risk register is a good way to show deliverability.

Is this fund right for a small charity or CIC?

Usually not as a direct applicant. The fund is for housing developers and public bodies, its scoring rewards schemes of 100 or more homes and investments that are repaid, and it now only accepts loan and equity proposals. If you are a community organisation in London, you may be better served by other funding. Browse community grants in London or grants in London, and our capital grants guide explains how capital funding for buildings usually works.

If you are a small construction or property business, the scoring does give some weight to supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, so working with a larger developer or registered provider bidding to the fund may be an option. See construction sector grants for other funding.