'We are committed to driving the construction of more affordable housing' - Wolverhampton Council's deputy leader speaks out as £6m secured for new social rent homes
More than £6 million has been secured by Wolverhampton Council to ensure 140 new council homes on 14 development sites across the city will be provided as social housing.
The grant is coming from the £40m Social Housing Accelerator Fund launched by the Mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker, in October to help drive the biggest social housing programme the region has seen in decades.
The fund, managed by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), will enable the council to convert the 140 homes, that are under construction or soon-to-be-built, to social rent homes – the most affordable type of home available.
It further enhances the offer the council aims to provide to local people under the £19.7 million Homes England-funded Social and Affordable Housing Programme pilot, which will see construction start on more new homes over two years.
The homes will be a mixture of one, two, three and four-bedroom houses, flats and bungalows for affordable and social rent on new sites - replacing existing homes that have poor thermal efficiency and are of poor quality or non-traditional construction.
Rents for the new properties will fall in line with the existing council structure, with a new two-bedroom property in Low Hill, for example, costing £46.52 a week less than a property classed as affordable rent.
Councillor Steve Evans, deputy leader and cabinet member for city housing at Wolverhampton Council, said: “This additional funding from the WMCA will allow us to make a significant number of new council homes affordable for residents on low incomes.
“We are committed to driving the construction of more affordable housing and these social rent homes will have a huge impact, helping get people and families out of temporary accommodation and off the housing waiting list.
“The Social and Affordable Housing Programme is just one part of our overall house building strategy, which will deliver hundreds of new and better homes for local people in well-connected neighbourhoods across the city, enabling them to benefit from improved health outcomes, lifestyle and sustainability.”
The Mayor said: “This funding means 140 Wolverhampton families struggling to afford a warm and secure place to call home will see their lives changed for the better.
“By working together in this way, we can provide more genuinely affordable homes and start to tackle this housing crisis. It has blighted too many lives, including those of thousands of children, for far too long.
“Having a secure, affordable home is a basic right for people and that's why I'm focused on building more social homes across our region."
The Mayor launched the Social Housing Accelerator Fund last year after securing greater flexibility over the West Midland Combined Authority (WMCA) housing funds.
The £40m secured will directly fund the delivery of 1,000 new social homes. Those will be on top of more than 750 social rent homes the Mayor has unlocked since taking office as part of his ongoing ‘Homes for Everyone’ priority.
