Salford lines up £5m housing grant  

Cabinet members will be asked to sign off the completion of a memorandum of understanding with government to enter round four of the Local Authority Housing Fund.

In an item to go before the city council’s cabinet on 9 June, the city mayor, in consultation with cabinet, is recommended to take a formal decision on the council entering an MoU with the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government.

In participating in Round 4 of the Local Authority Housing Fund, the council will also enter into relevant agreements with delivery partners to put the grant funding to work.

Nationally, the value of Round 4 is £950m. The LAHF is a funding stream that supports councils to obtain housing for use as good quality temporary accommodation for those owed a homelessness duty, and to provide safe and suitable accommodation for families on resettlement schemes.

Salford has worked within the LAHF’s previous rounds to deliver 40 affordable homes, meeting the allocation set by MHCLG in each round. Municipally owned housing company Dérive Salford and For Housing have been partners in this.

The new LAHF programme has a four-year timescale, dated from this April, and will see Salford receive just over £5.14m. The delivery target is 45 homes, 30 of them in the temporary accommodation bracket, eight homes for families on resettlement schemes, and seven larger resettlement homes.

Speaking at the opening panel session at MIPIM in March, Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett said local authorities need to have more “skin in the game” to address the UK’s chronic shortage of discounted accommodation. Dérive delivered 113 homes last year, and has around 400 in the current pipeline.