Around 1,600 new affordable homes will be built in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset over the next four years as part of an agreement between the HCA and the Partnership South West (PSW) consortium.
Devon & Cornwall Housing is lead partner for the consortium, which also includes Cornerstone Housing, North Devon Homes, Ocean Housing, Plymouth Community Homes, South Devon Rural Housing Association, South Western Housing Society, Westcountry Housing Association, and Yarlington Housing Group.
The new contract will be supported with a HCA investment of around £30m to deliver the homes. The investment is being made as part of the HCA’s Affordable Homes Programme, which is set to deliver 80,000 new affordable homes across England by 2015. This major contract is one of the largest to be agreed by the HCA team in the South and South West of England.
The estimated value of the programme is around £184m, which will also benefit the local economy by providing jobs and training opportunities during the construction phase.
Nearly a quarter of the new properties will be available through shared ownership products for first-time buyers and the rest will consist of rented accommodation. And 28% of the new homes will be built in rural areas as part of the deal.
DCH has secured investment for 536 homes for its own part of the new development programme.
Paul Crawford, Chief Executive of DCH, said: “With increasing demand for affordable housing, and an economic climate which makes it difficult for first-time buyers to access home ownership, this new funding package provides a welcome boost to the development programmes of the partnership.”
Colin Molton, HCA executive director for the South and South West, said: “This agreement with our partners represents a substantial commitment from us to deliver much needed affordable homes across the South West.
“It is well known in this part of the country that affordability is a real issue that hits many local communities particularly hard. The work that partners have agreed to undertake as part of this programme will go some way to addressing this and I am sure will be welcomed by the local communities which will benefit from these new homes.”
Most of the new properties will be houses, with a commitment that around a quarter have either three or four bedrooms.
