A £220m funding package to provide thousands of low-cost homes in the capital has been agreed by the mayor of London.
A total of £180m has been designated to the mayor’s First Steps Challenge Fund. It aims to help create 4,000 shared-ownership homes between 2015 and 2020.
At the same time, £40m loan finance will be given to Gentoo’s Genie for an innovative new housing product where buyers will need no deposit or mortgage to purchase their home, but at the end of the agreement customers own 100% of the home outright.
The scheme aims to deliver 2,000 new homes over the next 10 years.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson made the announcements today as he visited Erith Park in Bexley, south-east London – a major new regeneration project, with 80% affordable-rent and shared-ownership homes.
Johnson said: “Shared ownership is crucial in helping the unprecedented numbers of people in London desperate for good-quality low-cost housing. I want the funding announced today to help thousands more Londoners own homes and create more developments like Erith Park delivering excellent affordable properties.”
Steve Hicks, managing director of Genie, added: “This 10-year partnership with the GLA will help customers into a minimum of 2,000 new homes in the capital who otherwise would have struggled to own their own homes because of the difficult market conditions in London.”
