Cabinet give green light to plans for the Council to join the Wayfarer Consortium
Plans to build more affordable housing in Winchester district have been boosted after city councillors agreed to join a group that will give it access to government cash.
The council wants to become a member of the Wayfarer Consortium, which will enable it to bid for additional Homes England grant funding for new affordable housing schemes.
The move - agreed by the council’s cabinet last week could accelerate the authority’s plans to build 600 new homes in the district by 2020.
Winchester City Council leader and Portfolio Holder for Housing, Caroline Horrill said:
We have made a commitment to build more affordable homes across the district, so joining this consortium and gaining access to Homes England money is a positive step forward.
There is no doubt we must look at all options available to us to achieve our target and we must also be innovative in how we do it. Joining Wayfarer is part of that process and we look forward to it bearing fruit.
Wayfarer is a consortium of 18 different registered housing providers, including housing associations and local authorities, who provide affordable housing. The partners have housing stock of more than 100,000 homes and have received over £275m of Homes England grant allowing them to provide around 9000 homes of different types.
The council intends to use the partnership to bid for funding under the Shared Ownership Affordable Homes Programme.