Wolverhampton Council has secured just over £6million to ensure 140 new council homes on 14 development sites in the city will be provided as social housing.

The grant is coming from the £40m Social Housing Accelerator Fund launched by Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, in October to help drive the biggest social housing programme the West Midlands has seen in decades.

The fund, which is managed by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) will enable the council to convert the 140 homes, that are under construction or soon-to-be-built, to social rent homes – the most affordable type of home available.

It further enhances the offer the council is providing to local people under the £19.7million Homes England-funded Social and Affordable Housing Programme pilot, which will see construction start on more new homes over two years.

The homes will see a mixture of 1,2,3 and 4-bedroom houses, flats and bungalows for affordable and social rent on new sites and through the replacement of existing homes that have poor thermal efficiency and are of poor quality or non-traditional construction.

Rents for the new properties will fall in line with the existing council structure, with a new 2-bedroom property in Low Hill, for example, costing £46.52 a week less than a property classed as affordable rent.

City of Wolverhampton Council Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for City Housing, Councillor Steve Evans, said: “This additional funding from the WMCA will allow us to make a significant number of new council homes affordable for residents on low incomes.

“We are committed to driving the construction of more affordable housing and these social rent homes will have a huge impact, helping get people and families out of temporary accommodation and off the housing waiting list.

“The Social and Affordable Housing Programme is just one part of our overall house building strategy, which will deliver hundreds of new and better homes for local people in well-connected neighbourhoods across the city, enabling them to benefit from improved health outcomes, lifestyle and sustainability.”

The Mayor said: “This funding means 140 Wolverhampton families struggling to afford a warm and secure place to call home will see their lives changed for the better.

“By working together in this way, we can provide more genuinely affordable homes and start to tackle this housing crisis. It has blighted too many lives, including those of thousands of children, for far too long.

“Having a secure, affordable home is a basic right for people and that's why I'm focused on building more social homes across our region." 

The Mayor launched the Social Housing Accelerator Fund last year after cutting through red tape and securing greater flexibility over the West Midland Combined Authority (WMCA) housing funds. Restrictions placed by the previous government meant they could not be directly spent on affordable and social housing.

The £40m secured will directly fund the delivery of 1,000 new social homes. Those will be on top of over 750 social rent homes the Mayor has already unlocked since taking office as part of his ongoing ‘Homes for Everyone’ priority.