New partners to boost affordable homes

WARRINGTON Borough Council looks set to appoint three additional development partners in a bid to tackle a shortfall of affordable homes.
The council could be facing a shortfall of up to 419 affordable homes across the borough, despite falling house prices.
Increases in the deposits required by financial institutions could be making it difficult for many people to get onto the housing ladders.
Last year, the council met six registered providers of social housing interested in developing in Warrington.
Now they propose to appoint two of them as development partners, along with Golden Gates Housing who, following a massive vote by tenants, will become a housing association and the largest social landlord in the borough, with more than 8,000 properties.
Helena Partnerships has more than 13,500 homes in St Helens, with a loan facility of £170 million and the Plus Dane Group has more than 15,000 homes across Cheshire and Merseyside with a development fund in excess of £210 million.
Plus Dane already has 178 affordable homes in the pipeline in Warrington at Edgewater Park, Chapelford Urban Village, Walton Locks and Saxon Park.
The three organisations will join the Warrington Housing Association, Arena Housing and the Muir Housing Group, who have longstanding and successful partnerships with the council.
Coun Keith Bland, (pictured) deputy leader of the council said the current financial climate would have an impact, in the sort term, on the council’s ability to todeliver its affordable housing programme.
A workshop involving all the development partners would be held during the summer to agree how the partnership would work and develop solutions to respond to changes in the housing market.