100 homes to be built after £3.22 million awarded to Greatwell Homes from the HCA.
In early January 2017, we welcomed the news that Greatwell Homes have been awarded £3.22 million. The funds were awarded from the Homes and Communities Agency under the £4.7 billion 2016 – 2021 Shared Ownership affordable housing programme.
The money will go towards the development of 100 homes for Shared Ownership and Rent to Buy within Wellingborough and surrounding areas. We stated in our Corporate Plan 2015 – 2019 that we aim to build or acquire at least 500 homes, with 110 properties already completed and a secured development pipeline of about 400 units over the next 5 years. We will, however, continue to look for further opportunities to deliver even more affordable homes and go beyond our current targets, subject to the availability of funding.
Our biggest single development to date, 48 units at Mitchell Court, was handed over in December.
Denise Lewis, the Director of Asset and Development said: “We are very pleased to have received a funding allocation from the HCA as this will help us to provide more homes for local people who want to own their own home but can’t afford to buy on the open market. The £3 million will support us in achieving our goal to build at least 500 homes in Wellingborough and the surrounding areas by 2019, and thanks to our effective partnerships with Borough Council of Wellingborough, developers and the HCA, we are well on our way to achieving our target.”
The Shared Ownership affordable housing programme aims to support the development of 153,000 homes nationally, the majority of which are expected to be for Shared Ownership or Rent to Buy. A further £1.4 billion was added to the pot by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement in November last year which is expected to deliver another 40,000 new affordable housing starts in England up to 2021 but with overall supply now the main priority, there will be more flexibility in terms of inclusion of some homes for affordable rent within the programme.