NW schemes shortlisted for HCA kickstart funding

Housing Minister John Healey and the Homes & Communities Agency said 54 stalled development projects across the North West have been shortlisted for a share of £925m of emergency funding.

There are 270 projects across the country on the wider shortlist, which Healey said could help get building work on 22,400 homes back on track and create 20,000 jobs.

The Government expects almost half the money to be repaid within five years, over one third will go to housing associations and others to help them manage the affordable housing and less than one fifth (18%) consists of direct grant to support developers. Only developers who have accepted a realistic current market price for their land are eligible for Government investment.

All the projects will now go through a rigorous final assessment to determine which get the green light. Key to this will be their ability to start construction this year. But Healey said he wanted to see the first builders back on site in a matter of weeks and will call on successful developers to pull out all the stops so construction can restart as quickly as possible.

Over 8,600 of these homes would be for affordable rent or sale, with two thirds built to a standard well above that required by building regulations helping to cut CO2 emissions and reduce energy bills for the families that live in them.