MORE than 400 affordable houses will be built throughout the Highlands after one of the region’s housing associations secured a multimillion-pound bank loan. Albyn Housing Society says the £40million deal means they can help to address the shortage of affordable housing in the region and reduce the huge number of people on the waiting list for housing. According to the latest figures from Highland Council, there are more than 11,000 names on the waiting list. Some 2,000 people present themselves as homeless to the local authority every year. Half of the Royal Bank of Scotland money obtained by Albyn will be invested in the development of houses for shared equity sale or low cost rent. They will be a mix of flats and houses. It includes 42 new homes in partnership with Robertsons at Westercraigs, Inverness, as well as smaller projects at Inverdruie, near Aviemore. There are also plans for the development of a major site at Alness, which will include low-energy housing. The other half of the loan will be used for refinancing the Invergordon-based society’s current loan facilities. The deal was welcomed last night by Highland Council’s housing chairwoman Margaret Davidson. She said: “Our housing need is huge and Albyn is a big player. They have done well to get this deal with RBS. We all know that the banks haven’t had a loose purse string with anything to do with housing.” Senior bosses at Albyn signed the deal with RBS during the society’s annual meeting at the Drumossie Hotel in Inverness last night. Albyn chief executive Calum Macaulay said: “We have been working with RBS to renegotiate our current facility and secure additional development funding to enable us to help address the demand for affordable housing in the Highlands.” He added: “We are committed to the development of low-cost, energy-efficient homes in communities around the region and to supporting and maintaining healthy communities.” Ian Sillars, RBS’s head of housing finance in Scotland, said that the bank’s relationship with Albyn dated back to 1973 when the society was founded. He said that RBS had lent more than £1billion to Scottish housing associations. He added: “Lending of this type has the added value of supporting the home-building sector and some of the ancillary businesses which have been severely impacted by the economic climate over recent years.” The deal was also welcomed by David Sutherland, chairman of the Highlands’ biggest building company, Tulloch Homes. He said: “There is great and rising demand for affordable and sustainable homes in the Highlands and this Albyn funding boost will significantly help cope with this urgent need at a time when this market faces decreasing public finance due to government cuts.”
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