Historic day for housing in Salford

City Mayor Ian Stewart has handed over the key to unlock millions of pound investment for social housing in Salford.

Today (Tuesday,March 24) marks the historic signing of a document transferring ownership of 8,500 former council homes to Salix Homes after tenants voted in favour of the move.And the first phase of the ambitious improvement programme will start next month (April) with 2,200 homes set to undergo improvements, including new kitchens and bathrooms, in the first two years alone.

Salix Homes, which now becomes a not-for-profit registered provider, has promised to invest a total of £75 million in homes and communities over the next five years.

City Mayor Ian Stewart said: “This is a historic day for tenants. We put the proposals before them and they chose to vote in favour of more investment and better homes for themselves and generations to come by transferring ownership of their homes.It’s the start of an exciting new future for residents and brings more, much needed investment into quality housing in our booming city.”

Peter Styche, chairman of the Salix Homes Board, added: “The transfer of homes from Salford Council to ourselves marks a pivotal moment in the history of Salix Homes and housing in this great city.
There’s been a lot of hard work from both employees and tenants to get to this point, and we look forward to continuing on our journey together to creating a housing service in Salford that we can all be proud of.The level of investment we can now make in homes, communities and the services our tenants receive would not have been possible if the transfer had not gone ahead, so I’d like to thank all those who had their say to make this possible.”

Tenant Barbara Harper from Ordsall, who is chair of the Salix Homes Customer Senate, said: Today is a proud day for Salford and marks the culmination of two years of hard work by tenants, Salix Homes and the council to ensure the much-anticipated transfer presents the best deal for the people of Salford.

The level of investment that tenants can now look forward to represents a real step forward for housing and for the thousands of people in Salford who will benefit from the much-needed improvements to their homes and communities.