The agreement made between Homes England and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority is aimed at both housebuilding and regeneration in the city of Liverpool
The Place Delivery Agreement is the first of its kind in England and is intended to bring investment, capacity, and expertise to the city.
The agreement is expected to deliver new homes, regeneration opportunities, and long-term growth, and it is supported by the government’s devolution agenda.
Driving growth and benefiting from devolution
Members of Homes England, including those from the National Housing Bank, will work with members of the Mayoral Strategic Authorities in Joint Delivery Units, allowing local leaders and communities to have a stronger role in the shaping of new housing and regeneration.
Place Delivery Agreements are intended to be the main way that Homes England will interact with Mayoral Authorities as devolution takes more of a hold across the country.
This agreement in particular has been built around the three key pillars set by Liverpool City Region:
- Transformative growth – delivering Liverpool North Docks Mayoral Development Corporation and Central Station Gateway, large-scale projects that will transform the city region.
- Housing pipeline – maintain and enhance the City Region’s housing pipeline to increase the delivery of social, affordable and council homes.
- Tackling barriers – working together to create the conditions needed to accelerate housing delivery across social, affordable and council home delivery, skills, capacity and issues in industrialised construction, and enhancing place-based investment.
Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram, commented: “I’m delighted that Liverpool City Region is the first place in the country to sign a Place Delivery Agreement with Homes England and the National Housing Bank.
“This gives us a real opportunity to get more council and social homes built, get stalled schemes moving and make sure investment is focused where it can make the biggest difference.
“We’ve got huge ambitions for housing and regeneration across our city region, from the North Docks and Central Station Gateway to projects right across our boroughs. This agreement means we can work with Homes England and the National Housing Bank as one team to get on and deliver them.
“For me, this is what devolution should be about – giving places more control and then getting on with the job.”
The National Housing Bank is supporting Homes England goals
Launched earlier this year in April, the National Housing Bank is a public finance institution set up by Homes England and backed by the government. It works with housebuilders, developers, investors, and registered providers and has a leeway of £16bn of debt, equity, and guarantees.
The then-housing secretary, Steve Reed, said: “Launching England’s first ever National Housing Bank underpins a new way of doing things as we accelerate housebuilding at scale and tackle the housing crisis head on.
“Now open for business, the Bank will rake in billions of pounds of essential private investment to get spades in the ground for half a million new homes. This is just one of the many levers we’re pulling to make sure we reach our 1.5 million target this Parliament.”
Read more about the company, as well as its first-ever investment, here.
