The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has secured up to £500million to support housing and regeneration projects in the region.
The investment will offer greater flexibility to drive brownfield regeneration and give the WMCA unique powers to deliver affordable homes for residents.
Funding comes as part of the new Deeper Devolution deal, first announced by Government in Wednesday’s Spring Budget. The monies will help local leaders further transform derelict industrial land into new homes, jobs and facilities for local people.
This unique deal will see £100m being invested through a Single Regeneration Fund which will support WMCA to deliver 4,000 homes and a further £400m coming from Homes England through the affordable housing settlement for the region.
The news for the West Midlands gets better as the affordable housing settlement will be fully devolved to the CA in 2026.
The West Midlands has also become the only region with a direct Land Reform Partnership with central Government. An arrangement that will allow the WMCA to have a major say on all disposals of Government land in the region. This could see more brownfield land, held by institutions such as Network Rail and the Ministry of Defence, unlocked for housing and community purposes.
Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA Chair, said: “The new powers and up to £500m in funding set out in this Deeper Devolution Deal is a real vote of confidence in our past success and positions us well to build on this success in the months and years ahead. We can accelerate our agenda and do even more to provide local people with the affordable homes and access to opportunity that they deserve.
“Our track record of delivery when it comes to transforming long derelict sites into new homes for residents right across our region has earned us national recognition after all the hard work we’ve put in alongside our colleagues and partners.
“We’re on target to build 215,000 new homes in the West Midlands by 2031 and we will continue to be ambitious in terms of how we advance housing propositions in town centres, mixed use developments around key transport hubs and of course major brownfield regeneration sites just as we have before.”
At least 20% of the new homes in developments supported by existing WMCA funding must be classed as affordable under the combined authority's funding programmes. These further powers and funds will give the region more control over how we deliver the homes our residents and communities need.
Cllr Mike Bird, WMCA portfolio holder for housing and land and leader of Walsall Council, added: “This new money received from the government, which follows on from the hundreds of millions already secured in recent years, will help us continue our comprehensive regeneration programmes and provide affordable housing for communities right across the region to match our emerging employment sites and create quality places.
“Furthermore, by 2026 we will also have unparalleled freedom to deliver the best housing outcomes for the West Midlands with a London style housing settlement and greater influence over how Government land is used in the West Midlands.”
