First new affordable homes to be delivered by District Council housing company

At a Horsham District Council Cabinet meeting on 28 November, councillors approved business cases for the development of new permanent affordable homes in Billingshurst and Slinfold. These homes will be the first to be delivered by the Council’s new affordable housing company: Horsham District Homes.

Horsham District Homes was created in August 2019 with the objectives of:

• giving a boost to the existing delivery of affordable housing in the District
• making the best use of section 106 sums, and;
• providing a financial return to the Council for further reinvestment in housing and in District facilities.

Horsham District Council has helped deliver more affordable homes to local people in the past three years than any other council in Sussex with over 750 built through existing council policies.  The creation of Horsham District Homes is set to further build upon this achievement.

I am delighted that we are now starting to develop new affordable permanent rented homes owned directly by the Council, as a result of the creation of Horsham District Homes.

“In the Horsham District our existing policies have a good track record in the delivery of affordable homes. We shall continue with this approach but going forward with Horsham District Homes we will add to affordable housing numbers and help even more local people who are on our housing register into suitable affordable accommodation.

“This will ultimately improve the quality of residents’ lives by enabling them to have a permanent place to call home which is so essential to enable families the best opportunities to progress.”

Cabinet Member for Communities and Wellbeing Councillor Tricia Youtan

Following a model seen in other councils, Horsham District Homes as a company, is separate from the Council but wholly owned by it. It is led by Council appointed directors but other staff resources – such as legal, financial and administrative support, come from within the Council.