2,000 new homes have now been completed as a not-for-profit housing group closes in on their goal of of its commitment to build and regenerate 7,000 homes by 2030.
Orbit set the target in 2024 as part of their overall pledge to help tackle the UK’s ongoing crisis. Around 90% of the new homes delivered since the strategy’s launch are affordable homes, maintaining Orbit’s focus on delivering much-needed new homes for social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership.
The milestone was celebrated at Micklewell Park in Daventry, where Orbit is delivering 475 new homes across social rent, affordable rent, shared ownership, market sale and self-build. The delivery of some of the affordable homes at Micklewell Park is supported by grant funding from Homes England.
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Phil Andrew, Chief Executive of Orbit, said: “At Orbit, we’re committed to playing our part in helping to tackle the UK’s housing crisis, which is why we’re delighted to have reached this exciting milestone. We’re firmly committed to reaching our target of building 7,000 new and regenerated homes by 2030, and our progress to date is a real testament to the hard work of our team, who are passionate about delivering quality, energy efficient and safe affordable homes that meet the UK’s housing need.
“We are very proud that 90% of the 2,000 homes we’ve delivered under our 2030 Strategy to date are affordable and will help to provide a good quality home that our customers can afford, in a place that they are proud to live.”
Operating largely throughout the Midlands, East and South of England, Orbit’s development arm Orbit Homes has delivered around 1,000 new build homes per year, all meeting the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents’ (RoSPA) Safer by Design Gold Standard.
Although homes of all affordable tenures will be welcome in the mission to turn back the housing crisis, there has been criticism recently aimed at the blanked nature of the “affordable homes” umbrella. The report, backed by a number of MPs and housing charities such as Shelter, pointed out that the term affordable bears no connection to the true income levels of people living in the UK, and Shelter even argued that social rent could be classified as the only true “affordable” tenure. The report called for a revision to the definition of affordable housing. and pushed for a definition that was closer linked to the real levels of affordability for UK households.
