HUNDREDS of homes are to be built across Teesside to fill a gap in the rental market.

Tees Valley Housing Group has secured more than £14m from the Housing Corporation to invest in properties across the Tees Valley and Yorkshire.

The money comes from 19 individual bids, with two totalling £3,080,002, for the development of 32 houses, ten apartments and 20 bungalows, in Whinney Banks, Middlesbrough. Work on the first phase of this scheme will start in April next year with the second phase following a year later.

In Redcar, the housing group put nearly £2m into the Courts redevelopment and it is developing 100 of the 350 homes on the site.

Phases two and three of the Trinity project, in North Ormesby, also received £3,998,102 in funding. Phase two will see 31 two-bed apartments built, followed by 15 houses and five bungalows in the third phase.

Two successful bids have secured £1,397,311 for the first two phases of the General Hospital redevelopment in Middlesbrough, to build 16 apartments and 13 houses. In Yorkshire, £3,710,179 has been secured.

These successful bids come after a development partnership agreement was reached with the Three Rivers Housing Group, in Durham, to help achieve economies of scale in the development process.

Alison Thain, chief executive of Tees Valley Housing Group, said: "We are absolutely delighted with the results of these successful bids, which will fund some major projects across the Tees Valley and Yorkshire during the next three years.

"A total of 270 units, ranging from one-bedroom bungalows to four-bedroom houses, will cater for families of all sizes in a broad range of rural and urban communities, and in a wide variety of schemes.

"During these next three years, this money will help Tees Valley Housing Group play a major part in the regeneration of the Tees Valley as well as providing accommodation for rent at a reasonable price."