The West Midlands’ leading social landlords have joined forces to tell the candidates vying to be the region’s next Mayor that the next four years offers a golden opportunity for housing in the region, should we choose to take it.
The West Midlands Housing Association Partnership (WMHAP) is made up of 17 social landlords who collectively own and manage 200,000 homes for around one million West Midlanders, employ 7,000 local people and contribute over £1.2bn to the regional economy.
At a special Mayoral Husting on Housing, organised by the Centre for the New Midlands, Vice-Chair of WMHAP Ruth Cooke launched the partnerships regional housing manifesto and outlined the opportunity in front of the housing sector and mayoral candidates.
Ruth Cooke, who is also CEO of Green Square Accord, said: “Our manifesto outlines what we as regional anchor institutions can do to realise the opportunities that stand before us as a collective. We, as a region, have the opportunity over the next four years to increase the amount of truly affordable homes built in our region, create places where people not just want to live and stay but that they want to invest in, and lead the country in the retrofitting of older homes with modern green technology.
“If we miss this opportunity and fall behind it will not just be our tenants who suffer, it will be our region too. To realise these opportunities we need to invest in the building skills of the future, invest in new tenant facing technologies and find ways to make 100 year old homes fit for the next century. We collectively look forward to working with whoever is Mayor for the West Midlands after 2nd May as we take on these challenges.”
WMHAP has also shared its manifesto with the region’s MPs and Council Leaders. Read the WMHAP manifesto.
