Homes England will provide just under £590m from the affordable homes programme to the associations through to March 2022, in what it called the “first wave” of its new partnership approach.

The eight partners will deliver over 23,500 additional homes across all tenures, 61% of which will be affordable, housing secretary James Brokenshire announced at the Local Government Association conference.

Homes England said these homes will include some for social rent “in areas of high affordability pressure”.

The housing associations who have signed partnerships are: EMH Group, Great Places, Home Group, Hyde, L&Q, Places for People, a joint bid between Sovereign and Liverty, and the group of five Midlands associations known as Matrix Partnership. They have agreed to increase their development programmes in exchange for an additional year’s funding beyond the current spending review settlement.

Homes England now wish to agree a second wave of strategic partnerships with other ambitious housing associations.