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The West Midlands will go from strength to strength
In her final blog as Midland Heart’s chief executive before she takes over the reins at Clarion in April, Ruth Cooke says the future for housing in the West Midlands is bright
It is an odd time for me at the moment. After very nearly 10 years in the Midlands, I am now counting my time left here in working days.
And it’s an exciting time – being appointed as the next group chief executive of Clarion and having the opportunity to lead such a large social business when housing is at the very top of the agenda is an incredibly exciting prospect. But what a time to be leaving the Midlands.
I’m not a Midlander; I’m Gloucestershire born and bred, but 10 years ago I joined Midland Heart and took up the role of finance director, embracing the West Midlands and all of the wonderful things it had to offer.
When I left the South West, colleagues bought me the Proper Brummie dictionary, and with that at my side, I made my way up the M5. I now find myself reflecting on my time here and the incredibly bright future the region has ahead.
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Birmingham is one of the youngest cities in Europe, and with the wider city region at the forefront of the devolution agenda, I truly believe this is the region to watch. With the second devolution deal agreed, housing associations are poised to deliver on a larger scale to meet the diverse range of housing need within the region.
Elected mayor Andy Street and the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) have made significant in-roads with the Land Commission and remedial fund to make developable land available for housing and employment.
“Housing associations are poised to deliver on a larger scale to meet the diverse range of housing need within the region.”
The Strategic Economic Plan, set out by the WMCA, and wider research have estimated that around 165,000 new homes will be needed by 2030 to accommodate expected growth. And housing associations in the region are ready to deliver.
We now also know that the Midlands will play host to the next Voluntary Right to Buy and Housing First pilots.
The key to the Right to Buy extension’s success will lie in unlocking a new build programme to replace properties sold one-for-one.
For those of us involved in the pilot, we know that we must stay true to our core purpose, building and maintaining genuinely affordable homes for the future. Midland Heart’s ambitious development programme will see them join the top providers of truly affordable homes in the country.
There is still work to do to ensure desperately needed homes are bought forward across a range of tenures, primarily in identifying a planning system that supports our ambition to build but opportunity certainly lies ahead.
“For those of us involved in the pilot, we know that we must stay true to our core purpose.”
Announcements over the past three months bringing certainty on rent levels post-2020 and an additional £2m grant for affordable housing mean that this is an incredible time to be a housing association operating in the Midlands. We have an opportunity, and now is the time to seize it.
And although I’m moving on from the region, I hope I’ve earned the right to be called an honorary Midlander.
I shall be watching with interest as we move through 2018 and as this great region continues to go from strength to strength.
Ruth Cooke, chief executive, Midland Heart
