GMCA adds £94m to Housing Investment Fund
Proposals by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to borrow an additional £93.7m for the region’s Housing Investment Fund are due to be signed off at a meeting next week.
The GMCA plans to increase the capital budget of the HIF by £93.7m between 2018 and 2021, including an additional £13.9m in 2018/19; £69.6m in 2019/20; and £10.2m in 2020/21.
The money will be funded by direct borrowing from Government, under the GMCA’s existing HIF agreement.
The proposals are set to be discussed at a meeting of Manchester City Council’s executive next Wednesday, with a recommendation to approve.
The report to the council’s executive said the fund was “expected to make commitments which will exceed the existing approved capital budget” of £300m split over multiple years.
“The existing approved budget has been committed and the investments have started to be repaid, therefore providing the fund with an opportunity to recycle the repaid investments in new investments,” said the report.
To date, the Housing Investment Fund has provided more than £400m of investment into sites across Greater Manchester. Projects to secure loans in recent months include Lampwick, Manchester Life’s 213-home scheme in Ancoats, which was backed with £24.5m of funding.
Other projects backed by the fund in the last two months include a 24-home development by Mulbury in Weaste, which has been given a loan of £1.7m, and a 44-home scheme in Crumpsall by Breckside Estates, which received £4.5m.
Rowlinson also secured £5.6m of funding for the construction of 92 apartments on the former Stagecoach depot in Moss Side.
Other developers to benefit this year include Capital & Centric, which received a loan of £25.5m towards its conversion and extension of the grade two-listed Crusader Mill in August.
Renaker, Trafford Housing Trust, Urban & Civic, and Select Property Group have also received money from the fund since its establishment three years ago.
The GMCA and Manchester City Council were both approached for comment.
