Network
January 4th 2019
Middlesbrough Council to build homes ‘for people, not profit’
Middlesbrough Council is to create its own housing company, which will build ‘high-quality affordable homes’.
The plans to create the company were approved by the council’s executive before Christmas and include a start-up funding package of up to £10m which comprises part-equity and part-loan.
According to the council, the formation of a wholly-owned company will allow the authority to build homes ‘for people, not profit’ for the first time in a generation in Middlesbrough.
The first sites to see homes built by the new company are expected to be brought forward in the Gresham, Beechwood and Hemlington areas.
For the first time in decades Middlesbrough is experiencing population growth with people attracted to the growing economy.
Although the growth seen to date has been hugely beneficial to the town, there is an affordability issue that is developing, highlighted in a previous council report, as the average cost of new homes in the town rises beyond the means of many residents looking to get on the housing ladder.
The news comes just weeks after Liverpool City Council launched their ‘ethical’ housing company, Foundations, which will deliver £1bn worth of development over the next decade.
‘The formal approval of this housing delivery project is a significant milestone in the major regeneration plans for Middlesbrough,’ said executive member for economic development and infrastructure, Cllr Lewis Young.
‘Quality housing is a central part of creating a Middlesbrough with a strong city-level economy where people want to live and work.
‘We have said it before but it is worth repeating – this is a bold and radical approach by Middlesbrough Council and our company will be driven by people, not profit,’ added Cllr Young.
‘Alongside our Local Plan, the authority building homes means we can control and direct where new homes are built and what kind of high-quality housing we want to meet the needs of local people.’