Published on:
16
August 2012
Up to 28 new affordable homes for rent could be built in Clackmannanshire under the National Housing Trust (NHT) initiative.
Councillors have agreed that the Council should enter into a partnership with developer Hadden Construction Ltd to deliver the homes for mid market rent at The Glen in Coalsnaughton.
The innovative National Housing Trust initiative is being led by the Scottish Government and Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) in order to provide a major expansion in the provision of affordable rented homes across the country while also providing a boost to the local economy.
Under the NHT initiative, the SFT, developers and the local authority enter into a joint venture to purchase newly-built homes so they can be made available for rent at 'mid market' rates, for a period of up to 10 years.
Council Leader Gary Womersley said: "I'm delighted that we're part of the National Housing Trust programme, which demonstrates our commitment to increasing the number of houses available for affordable rent in our communities. In these challenging financial times, this initiative opens the doors to build more affordable housing in Clackmannanshire and complements our plans for new build Council Housing. By working with the private sector, we can tackle the chronic shortage of affordable rented housing in our area, while also giving a boost to the local economy, particularly the construction industry.
"This multi-million pound initiative is another example of this Council investing to improve and enhance our activities."
Councillor Les Sharp added: "As convenor of the Housing, Health and Care Committee I'm delighted to see progress being made which will result in new build housing in Clackmannanshire, and hope that this is one of many similar initiatives."
Scott Hadden, Chairman of Hadden Construction said: "We are delighted to be involved in this innovative housing partnership with Clackmannanshire Council and the SFT to provide much needed homes for rent and look forward to developing and successfully delivering our proposals for The Glen."
Barry White, chief executive of the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT), explained: "The success of the National Housing Trust (NHT) initiative is illustrated in the fact that under Phase 1, SFT is working with councils the length and breadth of Scotland to build more than 600 affordable homes for rent - if it had not been for the NHT programme, these homes would not have been built and are in fact helping protect hundreds of construction jobs. Under Phase 2 of the NHT, our aim is to increase the number of much needed affordable homes to over 1,000. Since the completion of the first NHT development in Stirling earlier this year, construction of many more homes are well underway and so far, the NHT programme is providing quality homes for rent to over 100 residents."
Having approved participation in NHT, the Council will now work with the SFT and the developer to bring the transaction to financial close and to start development as soon as possible.