Salford City Council’s new housing company Dérive has been officially launched.
Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett and Dérive directors, Councillor John Merry and Councillor Tracy Kelly toured the site and visited the new homes. SC004
The council set-up Dérive with £2million of Section 106 money to help tackle the ‘housing crisis’ in the city.
The keys to the first 20 two and three bedroomed properties were handed over to tenants from the start of September and they are now settled in their new community. Another 23 homes are anticipated soon.
Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett said: “I am so proud that we have been able to provide brand new affordable homes for local people to live in.
“We set up Dérive behind the scenes at the town hall in 2017 to help tackle the housing crisis. The reality is in Salford we have 6,614 people on our housing list, a five per cent increase on last year, with 51 bids for every home advertised. We know these homes will not solve the problem of the shortage of affordable homes but we need to help local people.”
The properties at Riverbank View in Charlestown were bought off plan from Keepmoat Homes by Dérive to provide affordable homes for people in Salford.
Dérive’s homes at Riverbank View are part of a wider 430 home development by Keepmoat Homes, where a fifth (86) of the homes are affordable,
Great Places Housing Group bought 43 affordable homes and Dérive intends to buy the remaining 23 affordable homes when the final stage of development takes place.
Councillor John Merry, a director Dérive, said: “This is just the beginning of the story of Dérive – a local success story and one that will be copied nationally.
“In the absence of government support we are doing things our own way and providing affordable homes for local people. Other local authorities are contacting us to see how we brought the plans to reality.
“We bought these homes off the shelf but the plan for the future is to build our own homes as the company grows.”
Councillor Tracy Kelly, a director at Dérive and Lead Member for Housing and Neighbourhoods at Salford City Council, said: “It is fantastic news that residents are all now settled in their new homes,
