200 affordable residences will be delivered across 11 sites in the West Midlands authority.
Wolverhampton City Council has been granted a landmark £19.7m in funding form Homes England to begin work on new social housing.
It will be the first landlord to test a new system which aims to expedite the route from initial identification of development locations to tenants actually moving in. The scheme will see a mixture of 1, 2, 3 and 4 bedroom houses, flats and bungalows enter the market,
Under the ‘portfolio approach’, the authority has been handed funding from the government agency before providers have been chosen. 11 sites have been identified and 200 new affordable residences will be built, and now housing associations are able to bid to take responsibility for those addresses once construction completed.
This first iteration represent a fraction of the £2billion bridge funding announce by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government back in March which support the ongoing Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26. Once this has run its course, a further £39billion will be made available for this scheme over a 10 year period, beginning in 2026-27.
‘This additional financial certainty will allow us to accelerate the future delivery of affordable housing provision in the city. One of our key priorities is to build new and better homes for local people in well connected neighbourhoods across the city,’ said City of Wolverhampton Council Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for City Housing, Councillor Steve Evans. ‘This pilot will deliver new homes that will mean residents and the wider community benefit from improved health outcomes, lifestyle and sustainability.’
‘We’re committed to supporting Wolverhampton City Council to achieve their ambitions through this innovative pilot scheme ahead of the new Affordable Homes Programme,’ said Shahi Islam, Director of Affordable Housing Grants at Homes England. ‘This new way of working is another example of how the agency works collaboratively with local authorities to achieve our mission to build much needed new communities that people can be proud to call home.’
Image: Clem Onojeghuo / Unsplash
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