COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL
GOVERNMENT News Release (204) issued by The Government News Network
on 5 November 2007
Councils could
offer thousands of affordable housing deals to help key workers
and first time buyers onto the property ladder under a
groundbreaking scheme, announced Housing Minister Yvette Cooper today.
This marks a return of the local authority to the centre stage in
providing homes for communities but in a new way - through Local
Housing Companies (LHCs).
Councils will be able to offer their own deals for key workers
and first time buyers through new homes built on their land.
Thousands more young families could get a step onto the housing
ladder as a result if councils take up this option.
New guidance for establishing LHCs was published today for the
first 14 local authorities who have expressed interested in the scheme.
Yvette Cooper said:
"We urgently need to build more homes for first time buyers
and families. That's why we are investing £10.2 billion to
increase affordable and social housing. But Government cannot
deliver this alone. This is a new way to help councils to do their
bit to support new homes for key workers and families in their areas."
Local Housing Companies are a new radical partnership between
councils and the private sector being tested as one of a range of
models to help local authorities to bring forward land for housing
development, in particular to help increase the supply of
affordable housing.
Currently, councils once they sell off surplus land to the
private sector have limited influence over how it is developed, or
the type and quality of housing provided.
But new Local Housing Companies could put the destiny of that
land back into the hands of councils enabling them to double
affordable housing levels to at least 50 per cent on sites, and
directly offer key workers and first time buyers shared equity deals.
Under the proposals to be piloted, councils would provide their
surplus public sector land to the Local Housing Company. The local
authority would play a full part in agreeing the development plan,
including being able to directly offer low cost housing deals to
meet local needs.
In return for taking the land cost out of the equation, private
sector partners such as housing builders, including the Registered
Social Landord sector, would provide equivalent investment and the
construction expertise needed to build the homes.
Local authorities could also benefit from the increasing value of
land on the site that could be ploughed back into providing more
affordable homes.
Each Local Housing Company could have the potential to deliver up
to 1,000 new homes. They are a key part of the Government's
Housing Green Paper to meet the Prime Minister's target to
provide three million more homes by 2020. The Government is
investing £10.2 billion over the next three years on more
affordable and social housing.
Notes to Editors
1. The Housing Green Paper set out proposals for Local Housing Companies.
2. English Partnerships today issued guidance to the 14 local
authorities who have expressed in the scheme. These are Leeds,
Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle, Wakefield, Sunderland, Dacorum,
Harlow, Peterborough, Bristol, Plymouth, Wolverhampton, Manchester
and Barking & Dagenham
3. Each LHC would act as the master developer within a designated
area and will work with other investors and contractors. They will
develop new mixed communities and will be able to include at least
50% affordable housing, for key workers and first time buyers.
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