One region taking advantage of this new scheme is the West Midlands Combined Authority. This project addresses the severe social housing emergency being experienced across the region. With 65,335 households currently on the social housing waiting list, the initiative seeks to utilize £40 million in existing housing funds to provide much-needed properties for those in need. Mayor Richard Parker gained federal government authorization to use these funds. They are explicitly reserved for affordable housing in and around the West Midlands.
Former Mayor Parker had already established a 2028 target of building 2,000 social homes per year as the territory’s floor. The new federal initiative is a historic step forward in achieving that objective. Currently, 7,450 households, 14,976 of them children, here in the West Midlands are residing in temporary accommodation across the region. His plea — echoed in policy circles often lately — above all, was for “cutting red tape.” This move will be important for immediately providing social rent accommodation and scaling down the long, long waiting list.
David Hopper, who recently moved into a new housing association scheme in Coventry after suffering homelessness for two-and-a-half years. He was brave enough to publicly offer his take on this very painful predicament. For Hopper, the new home has been transformational.
“I’ve been here for about six months and it’s changed my life,” – David Hopper.
Jack Kelly, head of neighbourhood investment at housing association Midland Heart, the largest in the West Midlands, praised the mayor’s decision. He continued, we need to do much more to retrofit our existing housing stock. He noted, “It’s fantastic news that this money is being used to bring down rents for people.” As he warned, “Housing doesn’t materialize in a blink.” He noted that the waiting list represents a supply problem that it may take years to correct.
The West Midlands Combined Authority previously faced limitations in its budget, which could only be allocated for cleaning up and unlocking brownfield sites for developers. This new initiative looks to flip that on its head by meeting the region’s stated, immediate, and growing housing needs head on.
David Hopper recounted his struggles while waiting on the homeless register, stating, “It was so difficult waiting on the homeless register.” His experience underscores how urgently needed this new initiative is. It’s certainly a step towards alleviating at least some of the burden that people in comparable situations have encountered.
The West Midlands is making some pretty audacious moves with this pilot. This approach is an active step toward dealing with a decades-long shortage of social housing. The authority’s example of smart, efficient use of allocated funds should be a lesson for other areas across the country with the same fate of crumbling infrastructure.
