The mayor of the West Midlands has revealed a new formal partnership with major housing associations in the region in a bid to drive the creation of more social and affordable homes.
The Homes for the West Midlands Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) will involve five housing associations – Bromford, Citizen Housing, GreenSquareAccord, Midland Heart, and whg – working with the WMCA on ways to accelerate the region’s affordable housing ambitions. The day-to-day business of the LLP will be managed by Integer Advisory Ltd.
It will look to identify new opportunities and sites for the construction of homes, as well as support the WMCA’s wider housing policies including, where possible, the use of modern methods of construction.
Announcing the partnership at LoCal Homes, an offsite housing manufacturing facility in Walsall, mayor Richard Parker said: “When I speak to residents, they tell me how hard it is to keep up with house prices, private rents, and mortgage rates, all of which have risen at unprecedented levels.
“One reason for this is that we aren’t building enough homes, particularly social housing. This has left too many people living in poor conditions.
“That’s why I’m committed to changing how we build homes in our region. I’ve set a target of 20,000 new social homes over the next decade to help tackle the housing crisis, while also training local people to get jobs building those homes.
“This is a shared goal, and I’m confident that by working together, we can make a real difference to the lives of thousands of people in our communities.”
The partnership’s first development, on a derelict industrial site in the Black Country, will be announced in the coming weeks. Preparation work, in collaboration with the local council, is already underway for a 100 per cent affordable housing scheme on the site.
It is intended to be the first of several schemes to be developed by the partnership in conjunction with local authorities and the wider public sector.
Joe Reeves, executive director of finance at Midland Heart, said “With affordable housing emerging as a key aspect of devolution in the West Midlands, this is the perfect time to demonstrate true collaboration between a partnership of housing associations with heritage in the region and the WMCA.
“This new Homes for the West Midlands partnership will complement the annual 3,500 homes built by these housing associations in the region by identifying land among strategic economic corridors to deliver homes that meet the policy objectives of the WMCA, particularly in respect of affordability, brownfield remediation, modern methods of construction and energy efficiency.”
Ruth Cooke, chief executive of GreenSquareAccord, added: “It’s fantastic to see the mayor make the construction of thousands more social and affordable homes one of his four key priorities.
“By exploring the use of modern methods of construction (MMC) throughout the partnership we will be able to construct much needed homes in a quality-controlled factory environment, accelerating the overall speed of construction, resulting in quicker handovers and earlier occupancy
“These homes will also capture more carbon than traditional construction methods and will be much more thermally efficient, resulting in lower fuel bills for customers.
“We look forward to working with the other housing associations and the WMCA to provide much needed energy-efficient homes to help tackle the housing crisis.”
The WMCA already works with a range of housing associations – in particular the West Midlands Housing Association Partnership (WMHAP), a consortium of 17 regional housing associations.
Cllr Peter Hughes, chair of WMCA Investment Board, said: “This partnership will help drive the development of new affordable housing on brownfield sites. It will also support key WMCA policy objectives including net zero and modern methods of construction.
“We are all aware of the shortage of high-quality, affordable housing across the region and I am confident this agreement will go some way to increasing and improving our housing stock.”
Source: Insider Media
