Affordable Housing
What is affordable housing and who is it for?
Affordable housing is aimed at those who are unable to afford housing on the open market. The government defines affordable housing as including:
- 'social rented' or 'affordable rented' housing (council housing or housing association rented housing)
- 'low cost home ownership'(housing association housing for part-ownership)
The homes are managed by Registered Providers (RP's) also known as Housing Associations.
To raise awareness of affordable housing, we have produced an affordable housing leaflet giving details on how an affordable village housing scheme can be developed.
Types of affordable housing
Social rented - usually owned and managed by Housing Associations (Registered Providers) this type of housing is offered to those in housing need from a register (waiting list), at rents well below market level. This is the most commonly known about form of affordable housing.
Affordable Rent - is a new type of product being introduced by the government which is similar to social rented housing, but the rents charged by the housing association could be anything up to 80% of market rents.
Low Cost Home Ownership - This type of housing includes three key schemes:
- Shared Ownership where you share the ownership of your home with the housing association. In addition to paying the mortgage on an agreed percentage of the property, the part-owner also pays a rent to the housing association on the share they do not own. The rent is higher than social rents but lower than market rents. With some Shared Ownership schemes, occupiers are able to negotiate with the housing association to eventually buy the property outright, but in rural village locations the percentage an occupant can purchase is restricted to 80%. This is to ensure that these properties remain as affordable housing in rural locations and do not become available for sale on the open market.
- Equity Loan schemes where a purchaser holds the full title of the property, but receives assistance through an equity loan which is secured as a second charge on the property. Usually, a loan of up to 20% of the purchase price will be offered, funded jointly by the government and the developer, with the purchaser expected to obtain a mortgage for 80% of the purchase price. There are two schemes available called 'FirstBuy' and 'HomeBuy Direct'.
- Rent to Buy a stepping stone to shared ownership, where the tenant starts by paying rent to the housing association who own the property. At the beginning of the tenancy an agreement is made that the tenant will save money to buy a share of the property from the housing association after an agreed amount of time. Housing Associatons sometimes refer to this as 'try before you buy'.
If you are interested in applying for low cost home ownership, you should register for housing with the Council and you should also contact East Midlands Home Buy. They are appointed by Government to provide a "one-stop-shop" for all low cost home ownership schemes that cover Northamptonshire.
If you are a key worker, a council or housing association tenant, on a local authority housing register (waiting list)or first time buyer, East Midlands Home Buy can help you to buy a home.
You can contact East Midlands Home Buy on 0844 892 0112 or find out more and register your interest via the internet at - www.emhomebuy.co.uk
Building affordable housing: