Home | News | Wayfarer: a year in review

It’s almost the end of the 2019/20 financial year and we’ve had a fantastic 10 months. Since 1 April 2019, the Wayfarer partnership has seen 616 new homes completed, with a total of 895 expected to complete before the 31 March 2020.

Our consortium of 17 partners has benefited from £11,527,856 of grant funding from Homes England since the beginning of the financial year. As a result of this funding:

• Platinum Skies Living has been able to provide 35 Older Person Shared Ownership units at their Mount Road site. This project was completed in July 2019
• Fareham Borough Council started on two schemes during 2019/20; Bridge Road (5 homes for rent) and Hampshire Rose (18 homes for rent)
• Winchester City Council started on site at The Valley with 77 new homes including 54 for Social Rent
• Wayfarer members Society of St James and Two Saints completed 37 new homes for supported housing and to meet homelessness needs during 2019/20
• Society of St James started 15 homes and acquired 13 homes with funding from the Move On Fund to provide homes for residents currently in homelessness hostels
• Abri acquired Downhouse Road, Clanfield which will see the building of 29 homes for social rent and shared ownership
• Abri, Lead Partner, is due to claim acquisition grant funding for schemes at Old Reading Road, Breach Avenue, and Boundary Hall.
• Abri is due to begin work on the Old Reading Road and Boundary Hall sites in the next three months
• Fareham Borough Council and Abri have been successful in securing grant payment flexibility for 3 schemes from Homes England during 2019/20 enabling them to secure grant at an earlier stage in their projects with the aim to help accelerate the delivery of 62 homes

Stephen Lodge, Executive Director of Development and Strategic Asset Management at Abri commented:

“The successful collaboration of Wayfarer members not only means we are consistently delivering high quality affordable homes as well as opportunities for home ownership, we’re also able to improve and enhance the communities we work in. ForAbri, as Lead Partner of Wayfarer, this is so important. Homes are nothing without strong and sustainable communities and it’s fantastic to see that this belief is shared with the 17 other partners involved. I’m looking forward to seeing what the consortium will achieve in the future.”

A model that works

Wayfarer allows each member to retain its individual identity, concentrating on their own area of expertise while working together to deliver affordable homes to those in housing need. This means members can draw on, and maximise each other’s skills, expertise and resources to improve the delivery of new affordable homes.

Our successful collaboration sees partnerships form between public and private funders, developers, land owners and other bodies. In addition, significant Homes England grant funding now and in the past, enables the group to deliver high quality, affordable and sustainable homes across the south.

Since our formation in 2003, the group has attracted funding for over 11,687 affordable homes with grants in excess of £311 million. We’ve had a brilliant year to date, and plan to build on this success going forward.

We’ve also seen the launch of our new website which you can find here.

Delivering benefits to communities

These projects will not only see the provision of much needed affordable housing, they’re also delivering significant benefits to communities.

Fareham Borough Council’s 18 home development of properties for social rent benefited from nearly £1.3m of grant funding from Homes England. The council’s tender approach for the appointment of contractors is open and encouraging to local SME’s. As such, FE Building & Sons, a Fareham based company, were appointed and began construction in August 2019.

This is a fantastic result for the community who are not only receiving much needed social homes – the first new homes to be built in Fareham for over two years but are also seeing investment in the local economy as well.

Abri recently announced the acquisition of a 0.9 hectare site in Downhouse Road, Catherington. This site will see 29, affordable and shared ownership semi-detached and terraced houses built, as well as an open play area for families. The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) says villages in England are facing a hidden crisis, with the lack of affordable homes having a devastating impact on the social fabric of rural life.

Developments such as those at Downhouse Road are responding to this need with the development ensuring housing is accessible to local people, particularly the younger generations and those on lower incomes.