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North Wales housing associations to form growth deal joint venture
A group of six housing associations have agreed to form a development joint venture to support the North Wales Growth Deal.
Pennaf, Cartrefi Conwy, Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd, Grwp Cynefin, Wales and West Housing and North Wales Housing confirmed to Inside Housing they are in talks over a collaborative project.
Together the six landlords own a total of around 31,000 homes.
The exact format of the joint venture has not yet been decided, but it will be intended to accelerate affordable housing development in the region alongside the North Wales Growth Deal.
It will be the first inter-housing association deal of its kind in Wales.
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The growth deal – an arrangement between the six councils in North Wales, plus businesses and universities – received £120m of funding from the UK Treasury at the Autumn Budget last month and is expected to channel £671m of public and private money into economy-boosting projects for the area.
Helena Kirk, chief executive of North Wales Housing, said: “This ground-breaking level of collaboration between all of the regional associations has not been developed or delivered in Wales to date.
“It is an exciting opportunity for the group of six local associations to make a strategic contribution to the economy and the plans to accelerate housing growth and meet a range of housing needs across the region.”
The joint venture will target strategic sites included in council development plans or with planning permission but where building has stalled.
Rebecca Evans, housing and regeneration minister for Wales, said: “This is an exciting opportunity to create more affordable housing for people in North Wales.
“By collaborating, this venture has the potential to be greater than the sum of its parts, and we will be looking to offer to assist its development.
“The group’s plans for the future are currently being developed to fit in with Welsh Government and local authority priorities.”
Joint ventures between housing associations working alongside combined authorities have started to gain traction in England, where 25 social landlords in Greater Manchester confirmed plans for a new development company in summer.
The Welsh Government has commissioned an independent review of affordable housing policy in Wales, which is due to issue final recommendations in April.
The review’s chair, Lynn Pamment, has questioned why housing associations in Wales have not previously done more collaborating in the past.
