NEWS RELEASES
Funding announced for affordable housing
15th April 2004
Over £8.4 million of social housing grant has been awarded to housing schemes in the Horsham District.
The South East Regional Housing Board has recently announced funding for new affordable housing to be built by housing associations in the South East of England over the next two years.
When the private finance and other funding that will follow the grant is added, it should be possible to provide 172 additional affordable homes for rent in the Horsham District over the next two years. This exceeds Horsham District Council's target of 160.
Cllr Jean Burnham, Cabinet Member for Housing and Social Well-being at Horsham District Council, welcomed the news and said:
“We are very pleased that the Regional Housing Board has recognised the great need for extra affordable housing in the District.
“With over 1,300 households registered with the Council, and many others who cannot afford to buy a home of their own, it is essential that we continue to build more affordable homes.
“When the Government abolished Local Authority Social Housing Grant last year, we largely lost our ability to fund schemes directly.
“The size of this allocation indicates that someone may have been listening to the representations we made at that time to the government about the negative effect their decision may have had on the number of homes we could provide in the future.”
Amongst the schemes which will now go ahead are the inclusion of 29 affordable homes as part of the major development of retail, commercial and residential units and community facilities in Southwater village centre.
Homeless families will benefit from the 20 units of high quality temporary accommodation to be built at the rear of the former TA Centre at Denne Road in Horsham. A total of 40 affordable homes will also now be included in the 107 houses and flats to be built on the former sewage works site between Hills Farm Lane and Granary Way in Horsham.
Other schemes include eight homes at Downsview Avenue, Storrington and nine homes at Warnham Court Farm, Warnham. In addition, 33 homes will also be developed by Saxon Weald on former garage sites in Horsham, Broadbridge Heath, Henfield and Storrington.
This announcement follows the news in February of Department of Health funding for the proposed 40 unit extra care scheme for elderly people to be built by Saxon Weald at Rowan Drive in Billingshurst, on a site to be made available by Horsham District Council.
Two major schemes in Horsham which received funding last year are also about to start, namely the 41 flats being built by the YMCA in Springfield Road and 26 affordable flats to be built by Belmont Homes for Southern Housing Group on part of the former King and Barnes brewery site in the Bishopric.
Ends
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(01403) 215549