GMHP to deliver 18,000 new homes to help tackle the region’s housing shortage

GMHP members will develop 18,000 new homes in the city region over the next five years. Our ambitious plans, announced this week (w/c 6 Feb), represent an investment of approximately £2.5bn into much-needed, high-quality new housing, and a significant contribution to the city-region target of delivering 50,000 new affordable homes by 2037.

Over half the new homes being developed will be for social and affordable rent. Significant investment is also going towards developing new homes for people with support needs, and homes for low-cost homeownership, such as shared ownership and rent-to-buy. A proportion of developments will also be for market sale, generating additional revenue that the housing providers will reinvest into new homes and local services.

In addition, ten GMHP members, along with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), have invested £32m to create a ‘profit for purpose’ development joint venture called Hive Homes, which has its own plans to develop 700 homes for market sale in the next few years. Revenue from Hive Homes will be distributed directly back to the investors to be reinvested in new affordable housing and services for customers.

GMHP’s investment in new homes will also bring additional benefits for local communities, including new training, employment, and apprenticeship opportunities. In the last two years, GMHP has created almost 200 apprenticeships directly through its members’ new-build development programmes.

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.

“Our members have the capacity to deliver even more new homes, and we continue to work with our partners at Homes England, GMCA, local authorities, and beyond to secure the land and planning we need to expedite new housing delivery in the region and ensure we can maximise our capability.”

“The skills, training, and employment opportunities we’ll deliver through this growth are at the heart of GMHP’s work. As community anchor institutions, GMHP members make a significant contribution to the economic well-being of Greater Manchester, and our investment in new homes helps not only improve housing quality and choice, but also supports households and communities in many other ways too.”

Paul Dennett, City Mayor of Salford and GMCA Lead for Housing, Homelessness and Infrastructure, said: “This is a really promising announcement, and we welcome the commitment of GMHP to deliver more than half of these new homes for social and affordable rent.

“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.

“Partners like GMHP have an important role to play in helping us deliver the right housing for our communities. Our Places for Everyone plan includes a commitment to build 50,000 affordable homes by 2037, and we have set a target of building at least 30,000 zero-carbon homes for social rent by 2038.

“We will also need Government and Homes England to work with us to tackle housing inequality and achieve our net-zero ambitions through the delivery of more affordable homes, funding for brownfield development, and the sustainable infrastructure that our places and communities need.”