Council leader welcomes city’s largest and oldest Housing Association’s £295m investment on new social homes
Midland Heart, which has been building and providing affordable homes across the midlands for over 100 years, will deliver 1,200 new affordable homes in Birmingham before 2028.
Midland Heart, which has been building and providing affordable homes across the midlands for over 100 years, will deliver 1,200 new affordable homes in Birmingham before 2028.
These new homes, which will be let to families who are on housing waiting lists in the city, are a £295m investment in the city. Nearly 900 of the homes will be available to local residents for social rent, the cheapest housing option available, the other 300 will be a mix of affordable rent (80% of market rent) and shared ownership for those wanting to start on the property ladder.
The investment includes grant from Homes England’s Social and Affordable Housing Programme and has been made possible by investment by the West Midlands Combined Authorities Land Remediation Fund.
The homes are being built across 15 brownfield sites across the city with keys starting to be given to new tenants as early as next month. Over 800 of the new homes will be on larger sites in Ladywood, Yardley, Longbridge and Winson Green. The development on the former site of Yardley Sewage Work, which will deliver 298 new affordable homes, is the landlord’s largest development and homes will start to be handed over this year.
The investment will play a significant role in helping to address the city’s housing shortage with over 6,000 families currently living in temporary accommodation and many of those in the most need waiting over four years for a home.
Joe Reeves Deputy Chief Executive of Midland Heart said:
“For over a century we have been building and maintaining affordable homes in Birmingham, we now provide homes and services to over 35,000 people across the Midlands. This £295m investment in the city our organisation started in will take the number of affordable homes we manage in Birmingham to over 13000.
We have prioritised building 2, 3 and 4 bed family homes in the city but have also increased the number of bungalows we are building to help those who want to downsize, freeing up family homes elsewhere.
This investment in Birmingham is part of our commitment to build 2,250 new affordable homes across the Midlands by 2030.”
John Cotton Leader of Birmingham City Council said:
“This significant investment from Midland Heart represents a huge boost for social housing in Birmingham and will transform thousands of lives across the city.
“Good quality social and affordable homes improve life chances, boost local economies through job creation and help families to flourish, so this commitment from Midland Heart is about much more than bricks and mortar, it’s about brighter futures.”
