Great Places bags £40m to build 1,751 affordable units

Great Places Housing Group will build 1,751 affordable units after being allocated £40m under the government’s affordable rent programme.

A total of £98m was awarded to housing developers in the final week of September – the largest amount allocated so far under the programme – to build 3,847 affordable units.

Other recipients of funding included Gallions Housing Association, which received £20m, Yorkshire Housing Association, which received £17m and LHA-ASRA, which received £22m.

Great Places will use the funding to build 1,563 affordable units and 850 other units in the South-west and 189 affordable units and 111 other units in Yorkshire.

Since the programme began at the beginning of September, a total of £232m has been allocated to housing developers to build 9,799 affordable units.

The programme will see 146 providers share nearly £1.8bn to build 80,000 homes overall.

Great Places chief executive Stephen Porter said: “Our allocation is once again one of the very largest in the north. It will allow us to fulfil the need for quality affordable housing and provide people with real homes for the future.

“To receive such large grants shows the high regard Great Places is held in by the HCA. For Great Places this is fabulous news and will help us continue to grow and be successful in this difficult economic climate.”