Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) said its investments into the local economy have now reached more than £1 billion, resulting in thousands of jobs, new quality homes and boosting businesses in the city-region.

GMCA said its investment funds have so far made £1.2 billion of investments, with the figure continuing to rise through fund recycling as money is repaid and reinvested into new projects.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is made up of the 10 Greater Manchester councils — Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan — and the city-region is home to more than 2.8 million people.

It said the Housing Investment Loan Fund is on track to deliver 10,000 new homes across the city-region, with £700 million invested into residential property so far.

A total of 9,571 new homes have been developed to date, with the fund starting at £300 million in its inception back in 2015. To date, this has been recycled over two times.

Alongside significant investment into housing in the core of the conurbation, the fund has helped support developments such as the renovation of Alexander House in Old Trafford which will deliver 116 apartments and 311 new properties on Don Street in Middleton.

The Fund has also supported smaller housing developers to deliver schemes such as the redevelopment of an old motor garage on Ladhill Lane in Oldham.

A total of £110 million has also been invested into businesses across sectors ranging from digital to manufacturing, supporting the creation of 8,347 quality jobs and ensuring businesses can continue to grow in the city-region.

Businesses to benefit from the fund include clean tech company Vector Homes, which is developing sustainable and affordable smart houses, customer care business FM Outsource in Bury and FinTech business BankiFi.

Over £350 million has been invested into commercial property schemes and businesses, including Citylabs on Oxford Road, Manchester, which is increasing the much needed supply of lab space for businesses in Greater Manchester.

Councillor David Molyneux, GMCA lead for Investment and Resources, said: “Greater Manchester’s Investment Funds are a fantastic example of devolution working in practise. Through the funds, we are able to maximise the impact of public sector funding.

“The funds have helped to unlock the delivery of thousands of new homes and have secured more than 200 properties for vulnerable people such as those experiencing homelessness or survivors of domestic violence. We have also been able to use funding to support business growth and the creation of thousands of jobs.

“We are now urging other organisations, businesses and developers with viable proposals to please get in touch and find out how we can support you.”

Vector Homes CEO Nathan Feddy said: “With the support of GMCA we’ve been able to innovate and work closely with collaborators in the construction materials ecosystem in Manchester to develop and build our low cost, quick build, highly sustainable housing system prototype.

“2023 has all been about executing our plan and we expect to make a big impact on the housing market in 2024.”

Gingerbread Properties, which brings property back into use to provide homes for vulnerable people such as care leavers or those experiencing homelessness, have also praised the fund for helping the organisation to grow.

Julie Talbot, Director at Gingerbread Properties, said: “The Greater Manchester Investment Fund supports us in being able to develop demand led housing for Local Authorities within GMCA – either as social housing for Ethical Letting Agencies or supported housing for Local Authorities or Registered Providers.

“At the start of working with the fund they took a bespoke approach to understand our strategy and how we work and designed a product that would enable our delivery model.

“Working with a fund who has the same goals as our end users brings a fresh perspective and pace to projects.

“The flexibility of the product as well as the support and advice of the team means we can focus on delivery of schemes that meet our end users requirements.

“We are excited about working with the fund moving forwards to create homes and meet GMCA goals.”