We’re backing the West Midlands Housing Association Partnership manifesto

Last week, the West Midlands Housing Association Partnership (WMHAP), launched their manifesto ahead of the local government and regional elections set to take place on Thursday 2 May.

WMHAP is made up of 17 social landlords who collectively own and manage 200,000 homes for around one million people in the West Midlands, employ 7,000 local people and contribute over £1.2bn to the regional economy.

The WMHAP manifesto is a collective call for action, to ensure everyone has access to safe, good quality and warm homes.

In their manifesto the housing providers are calling for collaboration with the WM Mayor and West Midlands Combined Authority to :

• Find solutions to unlock additional supply;
• Regenerate our brownfield sites into much needed homes;
• Create the right environment to attract external funding to the region;
• Create a partnership anchored in ‘roots’ and ‘place’;
•  Open new routes to partnership and funding;
• Create coherence across the region and a level playing field between the constituent local authorities;
• Design out homelessness in our region.

The launch of the WMHAP manifesto coincided with the Housing, Communities and Regeneration Hustings on Tuesday 16 April. The hustings saw candidates for the West Midlands Mayor role go head-to-head in a live debate focused on housing issues in the region.

Commenting on the manifesto, Ruth Cooke, our Chief Executive and Vice-Chair of the WMHAP group, 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 , 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.”

The manifesto is backed by the following housing providers: Black Country Housing Group, Bournville Village Trust, Bromford , GSA, Lench's Trust, Midland Heart, Nehemiah United Church Housing Association, Orbit Group, The Pioneer Group, Platform Housing Group, Rooftop Housing Group, Stonewater, St Basils, Trident Group, whg ,The Wrekin Housing Group, Centre for the New Midlands

Read the WMHAP manifesto here: bit.ly/4aUKQ72