NHC host MHCLG visit to Greater Manchester

We were delighted to welcome Ruhena Ahmed (Deputy Director, Social Housing Quality and Residents), and colleagues from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) for a visit of members’ sites across Greater Manchester.

MHCLG colleagues had the opportunity to see a range of members’ projects from estate regeneration and terraced street renewal to extra care facilities and housing and support services for young care leavers.

To kick off the day, we visited Irwell Valley Homes’ award-winning Sale West regeneration project. The Sale West estate has had £50m of regeneration work take place and is the largest project of its kind in Greater Manchester for over a decade.

The project includes 263 affordable new homes, over £7m invested to improve existing homes, and funding through the Social Housing Quality Fund to target more than 250 homes with new insulation, ventilation and heating systems.

Phase 1 of the project is now complete and the last homes in Phase 2 are also now being finalised. Irwell Valley are eager to move forward with Phase 3 but funding for the next phase is a challenge. Irwell Valley colleagues explained the importance of complementary funding streams in parallel with their own investment.

Our next visit was to MSV Housing’s Elmswood extra care scheme situated in the Depot regeneration site in Moss Side. The former Stagecoach Depot has been redeveloped to provide much-needed housing options for every stage of life within the community. For MSV, this includes 72 extra care apartments, 40 affordable HAPPI scheme apartments and 30 shared ownership family homes.

We also did a walking tour of the Moss Side to see some of the renewal MSV have done on the traditional terraced streets. This included a quick stop at the site of a former nightclub. Manchester City Council have appointed MSV to build 280 new homes, to regenerate this site and the surrounding area.

MHCLG colleagues saw the brilliant community work MSV does at its Positive Futures facility – a training and education facility with apartments for care experienced young people.

Finally, we visited Johnnie Johnson Housing’s Wellington House, an independent living development for over 55s with 26 flats. MHCLG colleagues heard stories from residents of previously being homeless and the joy of finding a safe place to live. Wellington House is in being renovated and the visit showed the positive impact this will have on the people living there.

Throughout the day it was clear to see the fantastic work our members are doing. It was also great to see the emphasis on engaging with residents, and the role our members play as anchor institutions in their communities.

We are always on the look out for members’ sites to visit as part of our influencing work. Please get in touch if you’d like us to visit one of your sites. We’re keen to engage with the new Government and showcase the brilliant work our members are doing.