Member Article

Funding will support home ownership drive

County Durham based Derwentside Homes has been allocated a grant of £29.5m to support an ambitious construction programme, which will deliver 965 new homes in the region over the next three years.

The money comes from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and will enable Prince Bishops Homes - the development arm of the not-for-profit registered housing provider – to build the largest number of properties out of all the North East providers being supported.

The funding will also subsidise a new Rent to Buy model that can help people to break free from the rental trap and eventually achieve the dream of owning their own home.

Prince Bishops Homes is currently active on 10 sites across the North East, delivering individually and expertly designed properties to meet the needs and aspirations of first time buyers and families. It has plans to invest over £100 million in the provision of new homes by 2019.

Moya Jones, Development Director with the Stanley based developer, said: “For our new Rent to Buy customers, the HCA grant funding means that we can reduce their rental costs by 20% and then work with and support them in investing these savings into a Help to Buy ISA.

“This will eventually become part of their mortgage deposit and allows the tenant to buy the home they are living in outright, four or more years down the line. In addition, we will support our Rent to Buy tenants in becoming mortgage ready, helping them to budget and to improve their financial health and credit score, so when the time comes, they are in a position to proceed to purchase.

“Rent to buy models like this open the possibility of home ownership, to people that other first time buyer incentives simply do not reach. They will be key to re-energising the market and helping more young people to escape generation rent.”

This new model becomes the latest in a range of flexible housing solutions that Prince Bishops Homes can offer. These also include providing homes for outright sale and offering assistance to customers who want to buy using the Government’s Help to Buy equity loan scheme.

In addition, the grant will enable Prince Bishops Homes to safeguard many local jobs and the company will now be able to expand the workforce, creating new roles and apprenticeships. With a commitment to work with building contractors that provide employment and training opportunities for local people, the positive impact from this funding will also be felt even more widely.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Paul Dobbie .