National Housing Bank agrees up to £500m for Greater Manchester regeneration

The National Housing Bank and Greater Manchester Combined Authority announced an agreement on 6 November 2026 opening the way for up to £500m of investment in new homes and mixed-use regeneration across Greater Manchester. According to Homes England, the funding would support projects alongside the region’s Good Growth Fund, rather than represent unconditional approval for individual developments.

Homes England described the arrangement as the first of its kind in England. It brings together the agency’s public financial institution and the combined authority, extending their existing collaboration on housing and regeneration.

How would the National Housing Bank investment work?

Homes England said every project considered for funding would have to fit the National Housing Bank’s mandate. Each proposed investment would then go through the bank’s normal due diligence, governance and approval procedures, making the £500m an upper limit on potential investment rather than a sum already allocated to named schemes.

The announcement covers both new housing and mixed-use regeneration. It does not set out a division of the potential investment between those activities, identify a new list of funded sites or give a target for the number of homes the agreement could support.

The Good Growth Fund, which Homes England said launched a year before the announcement, provides the local investment context. The release does not specify how much the fund would contribute alongside the bank on individual projects, or give a timetable for drawing down the potential investment.

An agreement built on earlier Greater Manchester partnerships

According to Homes England, the relationship between the agency and Greater Manchester has already supported projects including Victoria North and work in Stockport MDC. Those developments are cited as evidence of earlier collaboration, not identified in the announcement as recipients of the new investment.

Greater Manchester was also the first combined authority to sign a Strategic Place Partnership with Homes England, the agency said. The latest agreement therefore adds a financial partnership to an established relationship between the national housing body and regional leadership.

The National Housing Bank is a Homes England company whose stated purpose is to provide finance for housing delivery. Homes England said it aims to overcome barriers to large-scale investment and speed up housing delivery and regeneration across England.

Its activity also extends beyond agreements with combined authorities. In a separate initiative, the bank has committed up to £70m to a family rental housing fund targeting more than £1bn of homes. That commitment concerns a different fund, rather than an allocation from the Greater Manchester agreement.

Regional leaders link investment to local jobs and affordable homes

Greater Manchester mayor Bev Craig said the region’s economic growth had not benefited every resident or place. She presented the Good Growth Fund as a way to spread those benefits, pointing to housebuilding, town-centre improvements, new businesses and jobs as evidence of progress during its first year.

Craig also set out the region’s Social Contract approach: organisations receiving public money should contribute to local communities. She identified apprenticeships, work placements and opportunities for local businesses as ways for investment to deliver benefits beyond the development itself.

Paul Dennett, deputy mayor of Greater Manchester and city mayor of Salford, described the Good Growth Fund as part of the region’s response to the housing crisis. He said public investment was being used to unlock complex sites and support more social and affordable homes, with an emphasis on energy efficiency and accessibility.

Dennett also argued that housing delivery needed to sit alongside transport, services and infrastructure. His stated priorities included linking investment to social value expectations, early-career opportunities and environmental goals; the announcement does not provide numerical targets for those outcomes.

National Housing Bank chief executive Simon Century emphasised the combination of national and local expertise with regionally led investment. He said the partners aimed to accelerate housing and mixed-use regeneration that met communities’ needs, presenting faster delivery as an ambition rather than a confirmed construction schedule.

What happens before individual projects receive funding?

The next decision point is at project level. Under the process set out by Homes England, the agreement alone does not establish that a particular scheme will receive finance: proposed investments must satisfy the bank’s assessment and approval requirements. No dates for those individual decisions are included in the announcement.

Separately, Homes England has scheduled its next housing statistics release for 10 December 2026, covering starts and completions from April to September 2026. That reporting period precedes the Greater Manchester announcement, so the release will not measure homes started or completed as a result of this new agreement.