The first council-backed housing in Newcastle for more than 20 years has been unveiled by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

Eight new bungalows on Kenton Road have been specifically designed for the elderly and people with special needs have been built as a direct result of a grant of £3.6m awarded by HCA to YHN, to fund the development of six new affordable housing schemes across the city, including the one at Kenton Road.

This new housing provision is the first affordable housing directly funded by Newcastle City Council since 1987.

Other developments in areas of the city where demand for housing is high, such as Throckley, Walbottle and Kenton, will start on site later this year and will provide more than 60 much-needed homes for young families, people with disabilities and the elderly, ranging from 3-bedroom family houses to specifically-adapted bungalows.

As part of the partnership between the HCA, Your Homes Newcastle (YHN) and Newcastle City Council, the land used for the developments has been gifted to YHN from the council, to ensure that the building of new and updating of existing housing supply can go ahead in the current economic climate.

Charged with creating thriving communities and providing people with the opportunity to live in homes they can afford and in places they want to live, the HCA funded the grant to YHN through its National Affordable Housing Programme. This is the first funding of its kind in the region to be directly awarded to an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) from the HCA.

As the first ALMO in the North East to achieve the grant status, YHN is now the first organisation of its kind to own and manage its own housing stock on behalf of Newcastle City Council.

Pat Ritchie, regional director of the HCA,said: "We are delighted that YHN has been successful in achieving the first direct National Affordable Housing Programme funding in the region, which has already been used to develop the first council-backed housing provision in Newcastle in more than 20 years."

"We have created a very strong partnership with YHN and Newcastle City Council, they have demonstrated, along with their construction partners, that they are able to deliver homes for families and those with more specific needs, to a very high standard."

"One of our key objectives in the region is to address the high demand for good quality housing stock, which we know exists, especially in our cities. We now look forward to working closely with YHN and the city council as they continue to deliver these much-needed housing developments in Newcastle."