Shared ownership – part-buy, part-rent – is failing in its designed purpose to help low to middle-income Londoners into full owner occupation, according to a report from the London Assembly housing committee.
The First Steps on the Ladder report warns that the continuing rise in house prices could jeopardise the long-term affordability of the shared-ownership model
One scheme in Shoreditch, for example, had a minimum income requirement of £65,617, just £383 shy of the maximum income threshold of £66,000, to qualify for shared-ownership housing.
It also found that lower-income households from expensive parts of London could struggle to access shared-ownership housing if councils in cheaper areas only allocate it to their own residents.
The report recommends that the mayor considers how to retain the long-term affordability of shared-ownership homes as part of his investment programmes and develops alternative models of affordable ownership, such as community land trusts.
Darren Johnson, deputy chair of the housing committee, said: “Many renting Londoners aspire to own their own home, but soaring house prices are making this harder and harder. Nurses and teachers are the kinds of essential workers shared ownership was designed to help, but increasingly people in that income bracket are finding themselves priced out.”
