Northern housing providers outline priorities for next government

The Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) has set out its priorities for the incoming government to ensure more northerners live in good quality homes.

The NHC is a membership body representing local authorities and social housing providers from across the North of England, including Stockport Council and Stockport Homes. Ahead of the upcoming General Election on Thursday 4th July 2024, the organisation has published a document detailing to the next government its offer to transform communities across the region and improve the quality of social homes.

Building the Future of Housing in the North outlines the NHC’s priorities for partnership between government in Westminster and social housing providers through to 2035. Its key asks from government include:

• Refocusing on regeneration and how social housing can transform communities
• Retrofitting and decarbonising older, colder properties in the region and the creation of up to 77,000 green jobs in the process
• Ensuring all northerners have a good quality and safe home

Tracy Harrison, Chief Executive of the Northern Housing Consortium said:  

“Housing associations, local authorities and ALMOs [Arms-Length Management Organisations] own 1.3m homes across the North. Social housing providers already make a huge contribution to local economies across the North, delivering around 60,000 new homes over the last five years, supporting over 70,000 jobs, and creating great places for people to live.  

“However, we need to go much further and faster to tackle some of the challenges we face in the diverse housing markets we have across the North. That’s why we need a new partnership with Government, with a commitment to long-term investment. This will create the certainty needed to deliver new homes, refurbish existing ones, unlock brownfield land for up to 320,000 homes, as well as creating 77,000 green jobs through decarbonising the North’s older, colder homes. 

“There is much to do but we and our members stand ready to work in partnership with the next Government to create great homes, great places, and a new generation of green jobs.” 

The Northern Housing Consortium’s Building the Future of Housing in the North document is available to read in full via their website.