[holding answer 22 May 2007]: The Government offer housing assistance to key workers under the Key Worker Living (KWL) scheme in areas experiencing severe recruitment and retention difficulties. Key Worker Living funding is divided between Open Market HomeBuy (equity loans to purchase properties on the open market) and new build products such as New Build HomeBuy (shared ownership of newly built homes) and intermediate rent (newly built homes where the rent is set at a level between that charged by social and private landlords).
As at March 2007, 5,845 newly built homes had been made available for key workers only in London, South East and Eastern regions through the Key Worker Living programme, of which 4,577 have been sold/let with a further 268 under offer. Of the 1,000 homes currently being marketed to key workers, 800 of these have been completed only in the last three months and a further 200 homes have been marketed for three to six months. It normally takes between three and six months to market and sell a unit. None of the properties currently available for key workers have remained unsold for more than six months.
The number of newly built homes only available for, and sold or let to, key workers since the launch of KWL in 2004 is provided in the following table. We do not have the figures requested on an annual basis.
Programme Available to KWs only Unoccupied (marketed) for three months or less Unoccupied (marketed) for between three and six months Under offer Sold/let to key workers Intermediate rent 2,644 231 36 12 2,365 KWL shared ownership (mixed funded sale) 3,201 569 164 256 2,212 Total 5,845 800 200 268 4,577
(2) what assessment she has made of the effect on the take-up rate of the Social Homebuy scheme of tenants purchasing an equity stake assuming financial responsibility for all maintenance costs;
(3) what liability a tenant has for freehold-related maintenance costs if they purchase an equity stake in a leasehold property under the Social Homebuy scheme.
I refer to the answer given to the hon. Member on 30 April 2007, Official Report, column 1518W.
Housing association and local authority tenants who purchase a share in a house are responsible for all repairs and redecoration both internally and externally. Purchasers buying a share in a flat will be responsible for internal repairs and will contribute a share of the costs incurred by their landlord in maintaining the building and common parts. Details are set out in their shared ownership lease.
The Social HomeBuy pilot scheme is running until March 2008 and is subject to an ongoing independent evaluation. Initial indications from early participants are that responsibility for all maintenance may contribute to affordability and sustainability issues, particularly for tenants purchasing smaller shares. The Government are exploring various options for improving affordability for tenants.
Information is not readily available in the format requested.
The numbers of new build completions are shown in table A and the total supply of affordable housing is shown in table B. Since affordable housing provision includes new build and acquisitions they are not directly comparable with the total new build only figures used in this draft and it would not be appropriate to calculate percentages.
Cornwall is defined as the local districts of Caradon, Carrick, Kerrier, North Cornwall, Penwith, Restormel and the Isles of Scilly.
1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 England 149,555 140,708 142,046 133,255 129,866 137,739 143,958 155,893 163,398 South West 19,003 15,825 15,892 14,972 15,598 15,729 15,984 17,411 18,761 Cornwall 1,513 1,918 1,800 2,094 1,983 1,851 1,681 1,688 1,623 Source: P2 Housing building returns as reported by local authorities
1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 England 47,269 42,312 33,718 32,156 32,143 32,063 37,064 36,000 44,861 South West 5,287 4,577 3,926 3,500 3,397 3,308 3,749 3,470 4,647 Cornwall 545 591 307 424 300 321 334 260 432 Source: Statistical returns from local authorities, Housing Corporation
[holding answer 12 July 2007]: The Prime Minister has announced plans to raise the annual housing supply target for 2016 from 200,000 to 240,000 additional homes a year.
We have published a Housing Green Paper that sets out further details of our proposals, including Government’s plans for the level of affordable housing to be delivered in the years covered by the Comprehensive Spending Review.
The detail of where additional affordable housing will be located is a matter for regional and local planning processes and functions.
Officials would be happy to enter into discussions with church authorities about the potential for the development of affordable housing on their vacant or surplus sites.
Proposals to increase the supply of affordable housing were set out in the Housing Green Paper. These include proposals to strengthen the role of local authorities in meeting local housing needs.
Proposals to increase the supply of social rented homes are set out in the Housing Green Paper. These include proposals to strengthen the role of local authorities in meeting local housing needs.
In 2006-07 we delivered the following number of affordable homes:
2006-07 2007-08 Suffolk 709 802 East of England 4,373 5,799
The Housing Green Paper set out proposals to increase housing and also affordable housing in every region. Further details of the regional breakdown of investment will be set out later in the year.
The number of new build affordable dwellings built on behalf of Suffolk local authorities since 1997-98 is in the following table. Affordable dwellings are defined as social rent and intermediate housing e.g. low cost home ownership.
Number of dwellings 1997-98 366 1998-99 250 1999-2000 251 2000-01 297 2001-02 301 2002-03 396 2003-04 363 2004-05 266 2005-06 635 Source: Housing Corporation
New build registered social landlord and council dwellings only make up part of the affordable supply, the remainder being acquired by registered social landlords. Between 1997-98 and 2005-06, acquisitions by registered social landlords numbered 1,737, taking the total affordable housing provision in Suffolk to 4,862 over the period.
Suffolk is defined as the local authorities of Babergh, Forest Heath, Ipswich, Mid Suffolk, St. Edmundsbury, Suffolk Coastal and Waveney.
[holding answer 23 July 2007]: We have published a Housing Green Paper which sets out the Government's plans for the level of affordable housing to be delivered in the years covered by the Comprehensive Spending Review.
Regional assemblies will be asked for their advice on housing spending priorities in their areas. This will include levels of spend on different elements of the National Affordable Housing Programme and spatial distribution. This advice will be provided in the context of work which has already been done by the regional assemblies as part of the preparation of Regional Spatial Strategies in their role as regional planning bodies
The Design for Manufacture competition was run by English Partnerships (EP) on behalf of Communities and Local Government. The aim of the competition was to deliver more than 1,100 high quality, well designed homes on ten publicly owned sites for a construction cost of £60,000 per unit. In order to ensure mixed communities, the homes will provide a mix of accommodation under a variety of tenures: affordable rent, shared ownership and private sale at full market value. The aspiration is to reach 50 per cent. affordable housing of all tenures across the 10 sites, significantly higher than the percentage of affordable housing achieved through section 106 agreements.
The homes for affordable rent will be transferred into the ownership of the registered social landlord (RSL) partnering the preferred developer on each site and will not therefore be offered for sale. The remaining affordable homes will be available for those who qualify for shared ownership arrangements, either through the First Time Buyers Initiative operated by EP or through the Homebuy scheme operated by RSLs. Should the purchaser under the shared ownership arrangements take the decision to sell, EP and the RSL have the right of first refusal to buy back the home. Should they not exercise this right, they would in any case benefit from any uplift in value on the proportion of the equity which they retain when the home is sold on.
The homes for private sale are being sold at full market value and will not therefore be subject to any restriction upon re-sale.
The Government published their response to the Cave Review on 19 June 2007 in “Delivering Housing and Regeneration—Communities England and the Future of Social Housing Regulation”.
Social homebuy is a voluntary scheme and information on the number of households who are eligible for the scheme is not available. 78 registered social landlords and seven local authorities are currently piloting the scheme. Some landlords are offering the scheme widely across their stock. Others are targeting specific estates, locations or local authority areas.
The right to buy is available to eligible secure tenants of local authorities and registered social landlords (RSLs). The number of dwellings owned and let by local authorities is just over two million. However, no information is available on the number of tenants who are eligible for the right to buy.
Assured tenants of housing associations who were transferred with their homes from local authorities have a preserved right to buy—approximately one million dwellings to date.
Approximately 200,500 RSL tenants may qualify for the right to acquire scheme introduced by the Housing Act 1996 because their homes have been built with public funds since 1 April 1997. Tenants of homes transferred from local authorities after the same date may also qualify for the right to acquire scheme, including those tenants who retain a preserved right to buy.
The average capital value of a house bought under the three homebuy schemes is:
£ Social homebuy pilots 155,000 New build homebuy 168,789 Open market homebuy 156,510
This is the full value of the property, regardless of the size of the share bought.
A table showing the number of starts in each local authority in England for the last three years has been placed in the Library of the House.
Figures are based on building control inspections as reported by each local authority on the quarterly P2 return to Communities and Local Government. New build starts as reported by the National House Building Council are added to provide a measure of overall activity. Local authority figures presented are as reported and do not include estimates where local authority returns are missing.
Since April 2004, 15,438 key workers have been helped into a new home through the Key Worker Living (KWL) programme in England. KWL only operates in London, South East and East of England. Therefore, no key workers have received assistance through the KWL programme in Weston-Super-Mare or the South West of England.
However key workers on low to modest incomes outside the KWL regions can receive help through the Government’s wider HomeBuy programme which enables first time buyers to buy a share of a home and get a first step on the housing ladder. We do not hold data centrally on how many key workers have been helped through this route.
Since April 2005, we have assisted 10,862 key workers, through the Key Worker Living Programme. We are on track to delivering our commitment to help 30,000 key workers to find a home from 2005 to 2010.
The Open Market HomeBuy product which is provided in partnership with lenders, enables purchasers to buy a property on the open market with the help of two 12.5 per cent. equity loans, one from Government and one from a lender. If house prices fall, and the property is sold, the proceeds of the sale are used to firstly pay off the balance of the mortgage and then the value of the lender's equity loan. For three of the participating lenders this will be the original value of the equity loan, as they do not share in a fall in value. For one lender the loan will have fallen in value to reflect the fall in value of the property.
If the house price has fallen dramatically, then the proceeds of the sale may not cover all of these debts. If the proceeds are not sufficient to pay off the lender's conventional mortgage and equity loan then they have 'recourse' to the borrower. This means that the borrower is still in debt to the lender after the property is sold.
Government, however, do not have recourse to the borrower. This means that if there are not sufficient proceeds from the sale, Government are not paid and cannot recover the debt from the borrower. This means that Open Market HomeBuy purchasers are less vulnerable to negative equity than those with a purely conventional mortgage.
The Government have recently published two documents that set out its plans to lever in more private finance to the social housing sector. First the consultation paper Delivering Housing and Regeneration: Communities England and the future of social housing; and second the Housing Green Paper—Homes for the future: more affordable, more sustainable.
In addition, The Housing Corporation, in their publication "Unlocking the Door: Delivering more homes from the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007", concluded that there is additional financial capacity within the Housing Association sector and scope for efficiency savings. Housing Associations themselves believe that savings that absorb likely land and build cost inflation of 6 per cent. annually are possible over the next three years.