Greater Manchester associations announce plans to develop 18,000 homes

News31.01.222.30 PM by Lucie Heath

A group of housing associations have announced plans to develop 18,000 homes in the Manchester city region over the next five years.

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A group of housing associations have announced plans to develop 18,000 homes in the Manchester city region over the next five years #UKhousing

Greater Manchester Housing Providers (GMHP), which currently has 24 members, will jointly invest around £2.5bn in developing the homes, more than half of which will be for social or affordable rent.

The providers will also develop supported housing, shared ownership and market sale properties, with the proceeds from the latter being used to pay for new homes and local services.

In addition, 10 GMHP members, alongside the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), have invested £32m to create a development joint venture called Hive Homes, which will develop 700 market sale homes over the next few years.

“There is an urgent need for investment in safe, decent, affordable and accessible housing to address the crisis we’re seeing here and around the country. We need to scale up significantly the delivery of net-zero social rented homes to put us on the best possible footing to address the housing crisis and climate crisis, and avoid the need to retrofit new buildings later down the line,” he said.

Matthew Harrison, GMHP’s lead for development and chief executive of Great Places Housing Group, said: “The UK is in the grips of a housing crisis, with Greater Manchester communities badly affected by lack of housing choice. The underlying cause of this crisis is clear – there simply aren’t enough of the right type of decent, affordable homes in the right places.

“A number of GMHP members are significant developers, and collectively we are at the forefront of tackling this housing shortage. In recent years our members have developed around a third of all new homes built in Greater Manchester annually, and our plans to deliver 18,000 homes in the years ahead will ensure we continue to make a significant contribution to tackling the housing crisis in the region.”