The programme is said to be the biggest public housing scheme since the 1960s.
Salford City Council is planning on building 417 affordable, “good quality” and eco-friendly homes in the region. The council has entered a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ agreement with two community-led organisations, which will enable the new builds to be affordable.
Former Leader of Salford City Council, Bill Hinds, who is now the leader of finance has said it is the most “ambitious” council housing project he’s seen in his 37 years as a councillor. The scheme is being funded from the UK government’s affordable housing public body – Homes England.
Mayor of Salford, Paul Dennett, has said councils need to step up in order to battle the housing and homelessness problems in this country. “What we need to get back to is what happened in post-World War Two in many respects. Councils were building council housing en masse and homelessness in this country was rendered statistically insignificant.
“The moral and ethical argument is strong, but I also think the empirical argument is really strong for actually being more interventionist in a market that clearly isn’t delivering the homes that we need.”
After the approval of the programme this week, he stated: “This is a fantastic initiative and development which will hopefully put pressure on the market, but also encourage local authorities up and down the country to play a much more active role in the housing market moving forward as we drive up standards, as we deliver net-zero carbon homes, as we tackle the housing and homelessness crisis moving forward.”
In the city centre, affordable housing is desperately needed as current rent prices are not accessible to people on lower-paid salaries. We hope to see more initiatives like this in future.
