Homes England’s National Housing Bank is officially opening for business, with plans to pump £16bn into housing and regeneration schemes.

Backed by a new Investment Prospectus that sets out the agency’s full range of funding and support, the new government public finance institution has the authority and ambition to accelerate the delivery of new homes and communities, whilst also enabling the regeneration of towns and cities across England.

Backed by the UK government, the National Housing Bank will work with house builders, developers, investors and registered providers to deploy up to £16bn of debt, equity and guarantees. The bank will also work with mayors through Homes England’s new regional model to strengthen collaborative working with partners and leaders.

A subsidiary of Homes England, the bank is powered by the agency’s expertise and will support the delivery of more than 500,000 homes and a raft of major regeneration and mixed-use schemes, alongside unlocking more than £53bn of private investment over the next 10 years.

Launching on 1 April, it is supported by Homes England’s new Investment Prospectus, the agency’s statement of how it invests to deliver homes and regeneration. With the bank at its core, the Investment Prospectus brings together for the first time Homes England’s full range of capital products, land, powers and technical expertise in one public document – making it easier for local leaders and partner organisations to understand the role the agency and the National Housing Bank can play in delivering their pipeline of housing and mixed-use schemes.

Housing secretary, Steve Reed, said England’s first ever National Housing Bank underpinned a “new way of doing things” as government accelerates housebuilding at scale and tackles the housing crisis head on.

Headquartered in Leeds, the National Housing Bank has launched with announcement of its first deal.  Homes England has contracted a new £100m partnership with Aviva with plans to build up to 3,300 homes for rent in underinvested areas of cities, including an initial 300 in Liverpool and Manchester.

The partnership will work with Place Capital Group and has the ambition to deliver 300 homes initially with scope to develop up to 3,300 homes as the funding grows.

The homes will be developed on underused brownfield sites in regional UK towns and cities, improving housing stock and creating visibly cared for neighbourhoods. The high quality, low energy rental homes will be aiming at a market segment of lower to middle income working families, providing certainty of tenure in urban areas with good commuting links and social infrastructure.

The partnership has already secured the Vescock Street development in Liverpool and the Moston Lane site in Manchester. 135 homes will be built in Vescock Street, part of Liverpool’s new town ambitions, a long-term programme to improve several underdeveloped Liverpool City neighbourhoods. Approximately 150 homes will be delivered in Moston Lane, with over a third as affordable, as part of a wider development to transform the area.

David Epstein, managing director of Aviva Capital Partners, said: “This investment will provide working families with high quality, aspirational rental homes with stable tenancies, supporting urban neighbourhoods across the country to get ready for the future. The partnership is another way Aviva is investing in the UK, working together with Homes England to improve local economies and communities in cities across the country.”