Tuesday 11 April 2006
Boost for affordable housing

Bedford-based housing association BPHA has been handed a £40m grant to develop new affordable homes across the region.

BPHA has been awarded the funds as part of a £3.9 billion allocation by the Housing Corporation under its National Affordable Housing Programme - 2006-08.

The national programme will deliver 84,000 new affordable homes for rent and low cost home ownership over the next two years.

News of the funding comes as the Government has announced BPHA's housing arm, Keyhomes East, as one of 23 new HomeBuy agents - housing associations given the role of one-stop shops to help people seeking low cost home ownership.

From April 1, Keyhomes East has started working as the Government's HomeBuy agent to help people in a zone covering Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and parts of west Suffolk.

Keyhomes East will work with other housing associations in the areas to market two HomeBuy products, known as New Build HomeBuy and Open Market HomeBuy.

The products enable those priced out of the market - including first-time buyers and key workers - to buy a share in a home of their own, with the remainder met by a housing association loan.

As a major provider of affordable housing, BPHA owns and manages around 850 shared ownership and 400 key worker properties.

Chief executive John Cross said: "We have already helped hundreds of people to find a home of their own at a price they can afford. The new HomeBuy products will help us to build on this success by offering a simplified approach to low cost home ownership.

"The Housing Corporation grant will make a tremendous difference to the number of homes we will be able to build and the speed at which we can finish them, which is good news for local people set to benefit.

"With an allocation of this size, it's also very good news for the local economy. Wherever possible, we work in partnership with local companies to help boost local employment and our house-building programme will create more jobs in the areas we serve."

Announcing the allocations, Housing and Planning Minister Yvette Cooper said: "If we don't build more homes for the next generation, then within 20 years we will see the proportion of thirty year old couples able to afford their own home drop from over 50% to nearer 30%. That's not fair on the rising generation."