Member Article

Helping key workers into affordable homes in Tyne and Wear

Key workers including nurses, police and teachers in Tyne and Wear are being given new support to help them onto the housing ladder in the North East, announced Housing Minister Yvette Cooper.

Long term increases in house prices, due to rising housing demand has meant many key workers are increasingly finding it difficult to buy a home in the region. Rising economic growth and household growth in the North East region means there is growing demand for housing but the number of new homes in the region has not kept up.

The Government wants more to be done to increase access to low cost homes for key workers and other first time buyers in the North East. Up to now, shared equity and shared ownership homes have predominately been available in the South East, but the Government wants to see more people take up these opportunities in all parts of the country.

Whilst many maybe eligible for support, some are not aware of the opportunities available to buy an affordable home, either with a shared equity loan that could boost their purchasing power by up to 32.5 per cent, or to buy a part share in a newly built home. That’s why the Government is simplifying the rules and launching a new campaign to make it easier to get help.

Currently, a family on a combined income of £40,000 could typically obtain a mortgage of just £160,000. But if eligible for the Government’s low cost homeownership scheme, they could potentially buy a home worth around £200,000.

The Government will also be shortly announcing new long-term steps to help both key workers and other first time buyers to access shared equity support, as part of its £8 billion programme to provide thousands more affordable homes.

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said:“Over the last ten years, we have helped more than 80,000 families to buy an affordable home. But we want to do more. It is not just in the South East where people face housing affordability pressures. That’s why we want to make it easier for nurses, teachers, and other first time buyers to get support to help them onto the housing ladder and are building more thousands more homes over the long-term.”

Since 1997, more than 80,000 households have been helped to buy an affordable home as a result of Government assistance. This includes 25,000 key workers, with 9,000 teachers, 10,000 nurses and health workers, and 3,000 police officers and front line police staff and other essential public service employees benefiting.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .