3,800 new affordable homes set to be built across the South West

A STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN HOUSING ASSOCIATION LIVEWEST AND HOMES ENGLAND, THE GOVERNMENT’S HOUSING AND REGENERATION AGENCY, WILL DELIVER 3,800 AFFORDABLE HOMES ACROSS THE SOUTH WEST BY 2028.

In October 2018, LiveWest and Basingstoke-based housing provider, Sovereign, entered into a strategic partnership with Homes England to deliver 2,275 homes by 2025, of which 1,235 would be developed by LiveWest.

It was one of 23 strategic partnerships announced by Homes England at the time, which marked a new way of increasing the delivery of affordable housing.

Now Homes England has announced a new round of strategic partnerships, committing almost £5.2bn in affordable housing grant (through the Government’s Affordable Homes Programme 202126) to 31 strategic partnerships with 35 organisations.

It is part of the government’s wider commitment to provide nearly £8.6 billion for affordable homes, helping thousands of young people and families get on the housing ladder, and providing secure, affordable housing to those who need it most.

LiveWest is delighted to again be selected as one of Homes England’s strategic partners for the Affordable Homes Programme, on the back of its strong track record of developing affordable homes.

The total investment of £123.6m in Wave Two will result in LiveWest delivering a further 2,550 affordable homes across the South West, and significantly benefit the local economy.

LiveWest was assessed on a range of criteria, including its strategic ambition, targets around sustainability and its track record on delivering homes at scale.

Of the extra affordable homes to be delivered across the region, 1,020 will be for shared ownership, 765 for affordable rent, 615 for social rent and 150 for supported housing.

All of the homes from this latest strategic partnership will be completed by March 2028.

Paul Crawford, Chief Executive for

LiveWest, said: “We’re looking forward to building on our positive relationships with Homes England and local authority partners to build even more high-quality and sustainable homes that are affordable for our customers.

“Being appointed as a strategic partner of Homes England gives us greater flexibility and scope to play our part in meeting the housing demand for affordable homes across the South West.

“We are absolutely committed to building more affordable homes at a time when the disparity between average salaries and average house prices is at its highest.

“Our purpose is to provide affordable homes for people who can’t access market housing and we believe in providing safe, secure and warm homes to enable our current and future customers to thrive.

“By securing this long-term funding gives us the certainty to be able to deliver our ambitious plans and invest in building the affordable homes our communities need.

“It is vital that, as well as supporting affordable home ownership, we build the homes for social rent that some of the most vulnerable in our society need.”

For strategic partnerships under the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26, at least 25% of homes must be built through modern methods of construction (MMC), such as modular housing, which supports LiveWest’s drive to build more sustainable homes and reduce its reliance on traditional building methods.

Mr Crawford added: “I am delighted that the Homes England funding comes with a focus on modern methods of construction and sustainability as these elements already form a fundamental part of our approach.”

Outside of the Homes for England programme, LiveWest plans to provide an additional 4,000 affordable homes over the next five years under planning obligations. with no grant funding.

Leading and co-ordinating the consortium, Affordable Homes South West partnership, LiveWest will also be supporting nine other housing associations in its area of operation to access grant funding from Homes England.

This will be done on a scheme-byscheme basis for 2021-26 from the Continuous Market Engagement (CME) bidding route which is part of the £7.39bn grant funding made available overall outside London in the new 21-26 programme.

LiveWest owns over 38,000 homes across the South West and is set to invest around £2billion into the local economy in the next 10 years.