A Cambridgeshire charitable housing association and social enterprise, CHS Group, has completed work on 16 new affordable homes for people in Littleport, East Cambridgeshire.

As a result, 11 families have moved in to new rented homes, with five further properties sold through shared ownership.

Funding from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority’s affordable housing programme and Homes England enabled CHS Group to build the homes, which will be available in perpetuity for affordable rent and shared ownership to local people.

Nigel Howlett, CHS Chief Executive, said:

We are delighted that these homes are now available to local families and we thank the Combined Authority and Homes England for providing funding to enable the development to get off the ground. Local people across Cambridgeshire struggle to find long term, secure housing that they can afford and these homes give them the opportunity to stay in the community they have grown up or worked in.

The Combined Authority had negotiated £170 million in funding for affordable housing in 2017, as part of the devolution deal.

Roger Thompson, Director of Housing and Development at the Combined Authority, said:

The Combined Authority’s housing programme is an ambitious one – we have a challenge from Government to deliver an additional 2,000 new affordable homes by 2022. We’re looking to work with developers, housing providers, Community Land Trusts and other interested partners and invite them to come forward with ways to accelerate housing delivery.

CHS was founded in 1927 with the aim to provide ‘homes fit to live, within the reach of the lowest wage earner’ and today has 7,000 people living in affordable homes across Cambridgeshire. The social enterprise already had strong connections with Littleport, providing over 60 homes in the village as well as a Timebank scheme which gives local people a way to meet and support each other.