The Council is set to enter into a landmark partnership with the Greater Manchester Pension Fund to deliver hundreds of genuinely affordable homes as part of plans to build 1,600 more homes.
GMPF has been selected, through a competitive process, as the investment partner for the next phase of development by This City, the Council’s housing company. The Council’s Executive is being asked to endorse the creation of a new joint venture with GMPF to deliver the second phase of This City development when it meets on 4 June.
This City’s first flagship project, No.1 Ancoats Green, is nearing completion – with 129 low carbon homes created next to the brilliant new green space and park at Ancoats Green. 30% of these will be available at the Manchester Living Rent, capped at the rent level which can be covered by housing benefit to make sure they are affordable to as many people as possible.
The initial pipeline for phase two consists of 1,583 homes on Council-owned brownfield sites across the city. At least 20% of these new homes will be affordable homes to rent. This City also has a strong emphasis on sustainability through low carbon homes, and on community.
Postal Street in the Northen Quarter, Piccadilly is the most advanced of the phase two sites with a planning application expected to be submitted in the coming weeks for 126 new homes – 20% of them affordable and to be let at the Manchester Living Rent.
Engagement with local communities in Monsall and Longsight started earlier this year, beginning a conversation with local people about proposals for sites in their areas. While formal consultation will be undertaken later this year with local people in the Grey Mare Lane estate in east Manchester around proposals for new housing as part of the major estate regeneration that will deliver 100s of new affordable homes in this part of Beswick
Future This City sites include:
Postal Street, Piccadilly: 126 new homes
Hyde Road, Longsight: 85 homes
Monsall, Harpurhey: 750 homes
Grey Mare Lane, Ancoats and Beswick: 136 homes
Downing Street, Ardwick: 166 homes
Heyrod Street, Piccadilly: 256 homes
Kirkmanshulme Lane, Longsight: 64 homes
Council Leader Cllr Bev Craig said:
“This City is about accelerating home building on Council-owned land so that we can build the homes that Manchester needs on our own terms. These homes will contribute to our housing strategy target to deliver at least 36,000 new homes up to 2032 – and at least 10,000 of these homes will be social, Council or genuinely affordable. “These are ambitious numbers and we are on track to meet them. For example, last year we built more council and social homes than any year for more than a decade, but we want to go even further. We plan to build new council and social housing in every part of the city and being creative, using our land and building the homes ourselves, we will do just that. And having the Greater Manchester Pension Fund on board gives us the financial boost to go further and build much needed low cost, low carbon homes for Manchester residents.”
Cllr Gavin White, Executive Member for Housing and Development, said:
“Having Greater Manchester Pension Fund on board with This City as an institutional investor will help us deliver at scale the new housing, including significant amounts of affordable housing, which Manchester needs.
“We’re seeing a step change and acceleration in the delivery of affordable housing, with more being built now than at any point in the last 12 years and with even more in the pipeline.”
Cllr Eleanor Wills, Chair of GMPF, said:
“We are acutely aware of the severe housing crisis both nationally and in the North-West region. This is why we are proud to continue our longstanding partnership with Manchester City Council investing in the “This City” vehicle that supports the Government’s plan to provide much-needed affordable homes for hardworking families while ensuring strong, low-risk returns to secure the pensions of our members.”
