Devolution is at the heart of WMCA, with over £1 billion in devolved Housing and Land Funds secured from Central Government for the region since 2018. This increase in power and funding has given the West Midlands greater control to tackle barriers impacting delivery, to acquire land and buildings, and de-risk regeneration. This is a gamechanger for the region and supports our mission to unlock ‘difficult to deliver’ high-quality homes and places.
Private and public sector investors and developers who share our ambitions and have a proven record of successfully delivering regeneration projects, can access a series of devolved funds to enable the delivery of quality homes, placemaking and inclusive growth.
WMCA can only use devolved Housing & Land Funds to intervene as the ‘funder of last resort’ (where the availability of private and public funding has been exhausted) in schemes with demonstratable market failure, as defined by HM Treasury.
Our transparent and efficient governance process and funding criteria is outlined here:
A Guide to Accessing Devolved Housing & Land Funds.
Available Housing and Land Funds
Gap funding to enable 7,500 housing starts.
• Schemes must deliver direct housing outputs – residential and housing-led mixed use
• Schemes must ensure housing start by March 2025. Note: site remediation works do not count as a start
• Schemes must achieve a minimum Benefit Cost Ratio of 1
• Schemes with a brownfield focus are prioritised
• As a gap fund, there are no recoverability requirements
• Schemes should support regional economic recovery/growth, for example, using local small and medium sized enterprises or local supply chains where practicable
Gap funding to enable 1,700 housing starts.
• Schemes must deliver direct housing outputs – residential and housing-led mixed use
• Schemes must ensure housing start by March 2025. Note: site remediation works do not count as a start
• Schemes must achieve a minimum Benefit Cost Ratio of 1
• Schemes with a brownfield focus are prioritised
• As a gap fund, there are no recoverability requirements
• Schemes should support regional economic recovery/growth, for example, using local small and medium sized enterprises or local supply chains where practicable
Gap funding to enable 4,000 housing starts.
• Schemes must deliver direct housing outputs – residential or housing-led mixed use
• Schemes must ensure land capacity for homes unlocked by March 2026 i.e. land is ready for housing delivery
• Schemes must achieve a minimum Benefit Cost Ratio of 1
• Schemes must be delivered on brownfield land
• As a gap fund, there are no recoverability requirements
• Schemes should support regional economic recovery/growth, for example, using local small and medium sized enterprises or local supply chains where practicable
Revolving loan funding to accelerate the delivery of residential housing.
• Residential and mixed use schemes where residential is the largest element
• Minimum scheme size of 10 units
• Maximum funding of £10m per scheme (by exception schemes up to £20m may be considered)
• Maximum repayment term of 4 years
• Schemes must be capable of making a commercial return to repay the loan
Revolving loan funding for sustainable commercial and industrial regeneration opportunities.
- Funding available for most commercial development (including refurbishment of void space) providing good economic outputs are demonstrated.
- Maximum funding of £10m per scheme (by exception, schemes up to £20m may be considered)
- Maximum repayment term of 4 years
- Schemes must be capable of making a commercial return to repay loan