We’ve done it again!

For the second year running, Midlands Rural Housing will be helping partners to boost the delivery of new affordable rural homes in the East Midlands

In June 2023, the Government published its Unleashing Rural Opportunity strategy. As part of this, DEFRA committed £2.5million to fund a network of Rural Housing Enablers (RHEs) across England.

Available only to members of the ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) network, the funding could be used by them to recruit a RHE (but only in areas where there wasn’t already an active RHE) or employ a consultant to provide RHE services on their behalf. Each ACRE member could bid for £65K.

In recognition of our rural housing expertise, Midlands Rural Housing were approached by three organisations, Northamptonshire ACRE, the Rural Community Council (Leicestershire & Rutland) and Rural Action Derbyshire each wanting to employ our consultancy services for the 2024-2025 financial year.

After waiting for a nail-biting few months, we finally heard that DEFRA are to continue funding the programme for another year, and once again, Midlands Rural have been asked to provide our support by all three partners.

This means that the fantastic progress we made during the last year across Leicestershire, Rutland, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire to help create new opportunities for the delivery of much needed, affordable housing, can continue for another year and hopefully beyond.

Philippa Mckenna, Project Delivery Manager at Midlands Rural said: “I’m delighted that our partners have chosen to put their trust in our consultancy services once again. This is testament to our reputation and expertise, and it’s just brilliant to be able to continue the work we’ve started with local communities across the East Midlands during the last year”.

For further information, please contact Philippa Mckenna, Project Delivery Manager at MRH on 0300 1234 009 or at enquiries@midlandsrural.org.uk