North-west based Harvest Housing Group have welcomed news today that the Government plans to double public investment in social housing.
Speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester earlier today, Gordon Brown pledged to ‘expand shared equity for affordable homes’ and said that Labour are also planning for ‘another one million more owner occupiers.’
The news will be welcomed by RSLs across the countries, which are at the hub of the high demand for affordable housing throughout the UK.
With the average house price now at almost £200,000 it is increasingly difficult for first-time buyers, keyworkers etc. to get onto the property ladder and are turning to organisations like Harvest Housing Group for help.
Ian Perry – Chief Executive at Harvest Housing Group said:
“Today’s news from the Chancellor is extremely encouraging. The high price tag of property today means that there is a renewed and almost overwhelming demand for both affordable and social housing throughout the country, and the promise of further investment into this area will help us and similar organisations meet the challenges of creating affordable housing that is accessible to all.”
Harvest Housing Group, through their subsidiaries already run successful Shared Ownership schemes across the North West and have 170 more planned for handover this year with another 670 in the pipeline.
In terms of the National Affordable Housing Programme (NAHP), Harvest has development partner status through its membership with PlusHarvest Developments. This partnership has a definite allocation of £26 million with a further £12.9 in reserve funding a total potential programme for 1,165 homes.