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Three members of the Spirit partnership have been shortlisted for the Housing Corporation’s Northern Housing Challenge, which proposes to provide homes for more than 10,500 people. Of 17 proposals shortlisted from across the North of England, four are from the North East, three of them members of Spirit – Tees Valley Housing Group, Housing Hartlepool and Erimus Housing. Spirit is the development partnership set up to raise the level of social housing standards by providing more and better quality homes at less cost to the public purse The Northern Challenge was launched by the Housing Corporation to promote new housing-led projects which will help shrink the North’s annual £30 billion output shortfall compared to the South, stimulate creative thinking and generate innovation. Key objectives include:
Tees Valley Housing Group proposes to work with designer and developer Urban Splash to create 80 homes for rent and sale in North Shore, Stockton, aimed at halting the out migration of young talent and graduates from the region. Housing Hartlepool proposes to develop over 500 new build homes for rent and sale which will greatly improve the housing offered in central Hartlepool. Erimus Housing proposes to develop up to 38 homes for rent and sale in the centre of Middlesbrough. The project will be aimed at graduates and professionals wishing to establish themselves in business but who require an affordable base in the area. Alison Thain, chief executive of Tees Valley Housing Group, said: “The North Shore proposal is an exciting concept, aimed at keeping the talent that comes out of Durham University and the University of Teesside in the region, by creating a place where these graduates would want to live and prosper, ultimately benefiting the region as well.” Cath Purdy, Housing Hartlepool’s chief executive, said: “To have three of the four North East shortlist members coming from the Spirit partnership is great news, and it is particularly exciting for the Tees Valley that Hartlepool, Stockton and Middlesbrough are all in with a chance of benefiting from these exciting projects.” Bernard Williams, chief executive of Erimus Housing, said: “The idea behind the Northern Housing Challenge is about keeping graduates and young professionals in the region, by giving them an affordable base to work and live from. With the University of Teesside and Durham University’s Stockton Campus in the Tees Valley, there is a lot of talent to capture with these projects.” Housing Corporation field director for the North of England, John Carleton, said: “This is not just about houses, but the bigger picture. Creating the right kind of affordable housing in the right place is central to achieving the key objectives of economic growth and sustainable communities in the North. “The Northern Housing Challenge not only illustrates the Corporation's commitment to new approaches to investment, but we designed it to find new ways with Regional Housing Boards for affordable housing to contribute even more to the prosperity and life chances of Northern residents. “These three short-listed proposals illustrate a real opportunity to try out new thinking. Given the North’s long track record of innovation, we look forward to these proposals for new products, new funding approaches and new ways for residents to benefit from affordable housing investment.” |
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