Date published: 30 October 2018
Guinness and Stonewater, two major social housing providers, are joining Homes England in a new strategic partnership. The Government agency is to provide funding for the two organisations to begin building 4,500 high-quality, affordable homes by 2022.
The £224 million funding will enable Guinness and Stonewater to extend and accelerate their development plans, bringing forward the building of affordable and social housing.
As a result of the certainty of grant funding from Homes England, both partners will be able to enter into longer-term commitments to buy additional land, targeting areas of greatest housing need.
The strategic partnership is the largest yet announced and is part of the latest round of deals announced by Homes England with housing association partners to deliver more of the homes needed to address the housing crisis affecting people and communities across the country.
The second round sees £653 million made available to eight housing association partners in seven partnerships. This takes the total funding for Homes England strategic partners to £1.2 billion, securing more than 27,000 additional homes.
Nicholas Harris, Chief Executive of 31,500-home Stonewater, said: “We're delighted to be working in partnership with Homes England and Guinness. The funding will add to Stonewater's already significant development programme and brings us closer to our vision of everyone having a place to call home. We welcome the government's commitment to tackling the housing crisis and this is a great example of how collaboration within the sector can help deliver that promise.”
Catriona Simons, Chief Executive of Guinness, said: ‘’Guinness is delighted to be working with Homes England and Stonewater. Our vision is to create great homes, where people are proud to live. This funding means we can extend our development programme and do more to fulfil that vision. We welcome the government’s commitment to working with housing associations to address the housing crisis, and we are pleased to be working with Stonewater to make a real difference.’’