Thousands of new social homes promised for region

More than 3,000 social and affordable homes are going to be built in the West Midlands after the region was given £409m by the government.

The West Midlands' mayor said the money would be used along with his own housing funds to build thousands more homes that were affordable for local people.

Richard Parker said nearly 15,000 children in the region were living in temporary accommodation and he wanted that number "coming down quickly".

"I believe people deserve better and we will change that by giving people the housing stability and security they need to get on in life," he added.

David Hopper, from Coventry, said he had been homeless for two-and-a-half years following the death of his mother and a family fallout, but he now lived in a Midland Heart social rent apartment in the city.

"I was trying to rebuild my life and kept failing because I couldn't move on without my own home," he said.

"I now have one less thing to worry about and this is going to give me the strength to go forward."

The West Midlands currently has 7,450 households, including 14,976 children, living in temporary accommodation, costing local councils tens of millions of pounds a year in additional housing costs, the mayor said.

A further 65,335 households are on social housing waiting lists.

The £400m announced on Tuesday is the first funding to be released from the region's £1.7bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme which runs until March 2035 and will see at least 10,000 affordable new homes built across the region over the decade.

The cash from the government is part of a plan from ministers to build 300,000 social and affordable homes across the country.

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