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Manchester City Council commits to 6,400 affordable homes by 2025
Manchester City Council has committed to delivering at least 6,400 affordable new homes in the city by 2025, increasing its previous target by 1,400 homes.
The plan to increase the pipeline of affordable homes in the city was put before the council’s scrutiny committee on Thursday and will likely be passed by its executive on Wednesday.
Previously the council had vowed to build 5,000 affordable homes by 2025.
The increase comes as the council revises up its overall housing target from 20,000 by 2025, to 32,000. The increase to 6,400 affordable homes will ensure the council’s ambition that 20% of all new homes in the city are affordable.
The new homes will be equally split between social housing, affordable housing and shared ownership properties.
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To ensure that the new homes are adequately funded, the council will invest using the city’s Housing Revenue Account (HRA). Other major cities such as Liverpool and Sheffield have already set out plans to fund thousands of homes through their HRAs.
The council will also look to use funding through its existing partnerships with Homes England, and working with housing associations that can access grant funding through the strategic partnership programme and continuous market engagement scheme.
It is expected that the Manchester Housing Providers’ Partnership (MHPP), a partnership between the city and local housing providers including housing associations, will help unlock £380m worth of funding between 2021 and 2025.
Between April 2015 and March 2019, 1,044 new affordable homes were delivered, with a further 1,061 on site to be completed by March 2021, and an additional 969 homes with land and funding already secured.
The council is also looking at investing in community-led housing projects that allow residents to lead the design and delivery of affordable homes, and will use three sites in the city to pilot community-led projects.
The council has also said it is considering working with MHPP to buy back former council properties that were sold under the Right to Buy scheme.
Suzanne Richards, executive member for housing and regeneration at Manchester City Council, said: “Manchester has undoubtedly been in recovery for some time following the financial crash in 2008, but we hope to see a high watermark of new affordable homes over the next two years.
“We want Manchester to be a place where our residents can live in the type of neighbourhood that they want, with sustainable, low-carbon homes and long-lasting communities. Housing is the bedrock of this and we need to commit to delivering the homes that meet the needs of Manchester people.
“These affordable housing targets are ambitious – as they need to be – and we will work closely with our housing partners across the city, and Homes England, to ensure we can make them a reality.
“Importantly for me, when the council can use our own resources to build homes, these should be focused on delivering homes that are Local Housing Allowance or below to ensure they are accessible to those on the lowest incomes.”
