Homes England and West Midlands authority sign deal to boost housebuilding

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and Homes England have signed an agreement they said would ‘turbo-charge’ housebuilding in the region, by forming a partnership to invest £400m in affordable housing.
The local authority and housing body signed an MOU to formalise the West Midlands Strategic Place Partnership (SPP), setting out their shared ambitions to transform derelict brownfield land into thriving communities.
The organisations said they would work to further remediate difficult-to-deliver and stalled brownfield sites and invest in good-quality affordable and future-proof homes.
The £400m earmarked for Homes England and the WMCA to invest in affordable homes forms part of the Deeper Devolution Deal the two bodies signed last year after securing £500m to support housing and regeneration in chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s 2023 Spring Budget.
WMCA mayor Andy Street said: “This partnership with Homes England will see us work closely together to turbo-charge house building, unlocking some of our biggest brownfield sites for new homes that are energy efficient and genuinely affordable.
“This partnership with Homes England, backed by the hundreds of millions of pounds we have secured for brownfield regeneration through our Deeper Devolution Deal, will further accelerate that success and see yet more homes constructed, more communities transformed and the quality of life improved for people right across our region.”
Homes England chief executive Peter Denton added: “The Strategic Place Partnership model gives us a framework to support local leaders who have a strong vision for housing and regeneration in their area.
“The West Midlands Combined Authority has a clear aspiration for its people and communities, and through this SPP we will bring the powers, partners, funds and capabilities of the agency together to help make it a reality, working in partnership to unlock the region’s full potential.
“This is Homes England’s fifth Strategic Place Partnership (SPP), following agreements with Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and South Essex.”
The move follows’ WMCA’s launch earlier this month of a £200m fund to abck the construction of more than 12,000 homes on brownfield land across the region.