The relentless rise of house prices has robbed many workers of the hope of
home ownership - and even easing house prices will do little to restore
affordability. But throughout the UK, local councils, developers and housing
associations or co-operatives are busy pouring government money into
building or buying “affordable homes” to be sold or rented to such worthy
cases. What many people may not realise is that they, too, may have the
right to be in one of these homes.
Our guide to affordable housing shows where the homes are and what you need to
do to secure one. It can be a tortuous process negotiating the many schemes
- and even more numerous rules and exclusions. But the rewards are great. An
apartment overlooking Hyde Park or in a cutting-edge development in
Clerkenwell may seem well beyond the reach of all but the super-rich. But
mere mortals - those on social housing lists, first-time buyers, low-paid
professionals and key workers - can live in some of the UK's most desirable
addresses at a fraction of the cost paid by their wealthy neighbours.
In theory, all new developments in London that have 15 or more more units must
aim to provide 50 per cent affordable on-site housing, although at present
that is met by few developers. Imperial Wharf[, a riverside development in
Chelsea, is one of the first to achieve 50 per cent affordable. Here, a
two-bedroom river-view flat sells for just under £1 million; however, those
who qualify for affordable housing are able to rent and purchase homes there
much more cheaply. There are 125 homes allocated to shared-ownership
schemes, 50 set aside for key workers who can rent for about 40 per cent
below market value, and discount sale homes, where people can purchase for
about 30 per cent below market value. There is also housing for the elderly
and students.
Most new London developments manage about 35 to 40 per cent affordable
housing, according to Nina Coulter, of the estate agent Savills. She says:
“This will be a mix of social rented accommodation, key worker flats and
shared-ownership properties.” In many developments, there will also be
“intermediate housing”, which includes shared equity schemes.
Not all luxury developments will provide affordable housing on-site. One Hyde
Park, the lavish Candy & Candy development in Knightsbridge, has also
been obliged to have a social housing element, but it is some two miles
away, on Regency Street in Pimlico. “Some schemes do have the opportunity to
place affordable housing off site, but that's quite rare now,” Coulter says.
“It does make sense in locations where the capital values are very high,
such as One Hyde Park.”
However, it is possible to find integrated affordable housing in highly
desirable spots. The Lancasters is another Hyde Park development that offers
social housing - 11 of 91 units are designated affordable - but these will
be offered alongside the private homes, expected to sell for around £2,200
per sq ft, within the refurbished, Grade II listed building.
This is affordable housing to die for, but it will be available to only a
fast-moving few. “With social rented accommodation, it is simply a matter of
being on the list at the right time,” Coulter says. “With shared ownership
and equity schemes, it is on a first come, first served, basis.” The
desirability of the fanciest affordable homes may not be widely advertised -
but it is only a matter of time.
LONDON
Elephant and Castle.The £1.5 billion regeneration of this neglected part of
London will quadruple the local housing stock. A big proportion will be
affordable: desirable schemes include Strata SE1, a 42-storey tower
including 80 shared-ownership homes (familymosaic.co.uk). Printworks, a
mixed-use development on Amelia Street, will offer 70 affordable flats for
key workers (savills.co.uk).
Charterhouse Thesq. This Clerkenwell scheme has 124 one to three-bedroom
flats, 50 to be sold by the Presentation Housing Association as affordable
homes. With views over Charterhouse and Smithfield Market, it will have
wrap-around balconies, terraces and high-spec interiors - both in the
private and affordable homes (presentation-sia.org.uk).
Lots Road. The old Lots Road power station site, on the Kensington &
Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham border, is being redeveloped by
Farrells to include offices, shops and homes. More than 820 apartments will
be created in a variety of buildings, including two towers of 37 and 25
storeys. Nearly half of the homes will be available for affordable housing.
It is due for completion in 2013 (terryfarrell.co.uk)
MANCHESTER
The Hub. Part of the Piccadilly Place development in Central Manchester, The
Hub offers a shared-equity scheme which reduces the price of the cheapest
apartments to £99,600 (savills.co.uk). Buyers who cannot afford the full
market price can purchase 80 to 85 per cent of the property.
3 Towers. Urban Splash has revamped former council blocks on Rochdale Road.
Beautifully finished flats in the third tower, named Sylvia (the others are
Emmeline and Christabel, after the Pankhurst sisters), will be available
through the First Time Buyers' Initiative (urbansplash.co.uk).
LIVERPOOL
The Foundry. In the Ropewalks area of Liverpool, The Foundry comprises new
buildings and renovated warehouses. The development is entirely given over
to affordable housing, with studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom flats
available on a shared-ownership basis: expect to pay £107,500 for a 50 per
cent share (livingthecity.co.uk).
CASE STUDY
Francis Stewart, 41, a teacher in Tower Hamlets, East London, used to drive to
work every day from his shared-ownership flat in Walthamstow, passing an
“interesting, funky-looking” new building on Regent's Canal. “I used to pass
it and think, ‘If I lived here, I would just be getting up for work, rather
than having spent ages in the car'.” Eventually he rang Savills, the agent
marketing the Adelaide Wharf development, and found that it was holding a
pre-launch event for key workers.
Last November he bought a two-bedroom flat in the building for only £150,000.
“I bought my flat through a shared-equity scheme,” Mr Stewart explains. “I
own 100per cent of the flat, but I bought it for around 45 to 50 per cent of
market value. I have a share in the equity: this means that if I choose to
sell and make a profit, I split that profit with the developer.” If he sold
in the first year he would receive only 10 per cent of the profit and the
developer would get the rest. In the second year the split is 20:80, in the
third year 40:60, and after four years it shifts in Stewart's favour, with a
60:40 split. “The scheme discourages people who are just looking to make
money out of it. I'm not interested in that: when I bought it I wasn't
looking to make money, I was looking for somewhere to live.”
Stewart is delighted with his flat: “It's a great location, and it is a
lovely development.” Adelaide Wharf is built around a courtyard, overlooks
both Regent's Canal and Haggerston Park, and is only a mile from Broadgate.
“It's a very good size - about 80sqm. The bathroom is like something out of
a hotel and the bedroom's enormous. It's all very high spec - I have the
same spec as my neighbour,” he says. “Just because I'm a teacher, why
shouldn't I also get granite worktops, wooden floors and a nice bathroom?
The place doesn't have that 'deserving poor' feel about it.”
this is the horrible socialist past this country has rearing its ugly head again. couldn't it be possible that house prices in London are so expensive b/c so much of it is designated council owned and or affordable thereby reducing the stock for everyone else? call me crazy?
Alex, london, england
New York is cheaper than London, despite higher population density, due to few regulations against building high rise apartment blocks. Therefore, the free market permits supply to meet demand. London buildings are 2-3 floors at the most! Proper urban planning is needed.
Jack Vance, SLC, US
Contrary to others here I believe that 'key'-workers should receive assistance in securing housing or accommodation close to their place of work - and I also believe that it should be of a good quality and relatively desirable in terms of location etc.
However, I would draw the line at granite work-surfaces and a bathroom like it's from a 5* hotel. Why should other tax-payers not entitled to receive such state funded assistance pay for upgrades considered to be 'luxury' by most people's and indeed most developer's standards (there aren't many properties on the market with such upgrades!)
Also, 80m2 is extravagant for a flat that is supposed to be 'affordable' - each m2 costs tax-payers £0000's. 70m2 for a 2 bed flat would generally be considered very generous on the open market.
I would however caution that this type of situation is rare, and most 'key'-worker accommodation is no grander than the standard (i.e. read basic) Barratt or Wimpey spec... spdecification
tom, hove, sussex UK
Thank you Rebecca - Lawyer Shropshire. I am a trainee solicitor barely able to afford rent in London, let alone even consider applying for a mortgage on my own. I see you are a legal aid lawyer I am not, although I voluntarily advise in a law centre that is not government funded to help people who are unable to afford a lawyer or qualify for legal aid. Am I not doing my bit for society as much as any key worker - I certainly spend many hours every week assisting people, without even so much as a chance at getting on of the above mentioned schemes. I have no chance of buying a property unless I try to get into the city and work nearly every hour there is in a day.
Maria, London,
This is ridiculous and I have to say I'm with Laura here. Does it not seem pretty unfair to you that someone has to spend an enormous amount of money for a nice flat in Chelsea and the neighbour next door only pays 60% of the price for the same flat because of their socially acceptable job? No need to discuss the immensely valuable work teachers, policemen etc. do but the solution should surely be to pay them properly so that they can afford their own home at market rate. You may not like it, but the well-off (who usually work bloody hard for their incomes and pay back to society through taxes and charity work!) are also entitled to being treated fairly!!
Anna , London ,
Elephant and castle- "UK's most desirable addresses",- are you having a laugh?
barry wiseman, bromley, kent
Several people have hit upon the solution to the problem without realising it.
"Yes Laura, but who is going to look after you when you are in a nursing home if nurses can't afford to live anywhere near London? "
Exactly, the free market strikes again.
Firemen cant afford to live in London?
Risk of fire goes up, property value goes down, firemen can afford houses again.
Policemen cant afford to live in London?
Crime goes up, property values go down, policemen can afford to live there and market stabilises.
Dominic, Manchester, UK
Yes Laura, but who is going to look after you when you are in a nursing home if nurses can't afford to live anywhere near London? The alternative to subsidised housing is to pay essential workers two or three times what they now earn & pass the cost on to the consumer.
Troy Reeves, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
Your premise is that they must own their homes. Why not RENT? Keyworkers (key? The professional and businesspeople that drive this economy are surely the keyworkers, paying the taxes that build the schools, and the hospitals, the bin collections, the police...) have always managed to still have their jobs by renting, or owning and commuting.
By what right - except vile discrimination - should these workers get the privilege (a keyworker will ALWAYS be put above the queue of any non keyworker and non councile tenant in a subsidised housing scheme) to own a home, at a subsidised rate, with a larger than usual space plan, over a non public sector professional?
Laura Roberts, London, UK
Yes, of course teachers etc like to live conveniently near their place of work, especially if they are subsidised to do so - so would lots of us!
There MAY be a case for people on shift work, but I've never met a shift working teacher, and a very small number of nurses do shift work either (just look at the staff car parks at noon and midnight!).
I have five relatives who are teachers, but have never noticed these "terribly long hours" that teachers always whine about doing - for half the year - so what makes them special.
Yes housing is expensive, but no more so for the favoured few than it is for shopworkers, office workers, dentists (ever noticed THEY don't qualify?). The only quality that the favoured ones seem to have in common is that they all work for the government or local authorities in jobs where they might be considered likely to vote left wtng!
Mike Bibby, St Albans, England -not EU
I'd love to have a flat overlooking Regent's Canal. However I can't afford one as my high taxes are going to pay for 'poor' public sector workers to have one instead.
There should be a law against the government flagrantly bribing sections of the electorate like this.
Tom Archer, London, UK
Are your facts correct in the article? The flats at Charterhouse The Square, Clerkenwell that are to be owned by Presentation Housing are actually for rent to local people (providing they are on the Islington Council Housing List), not for sale.
There is a huge sign on the building on the Goswell Road facade saying that.
Paulus, London , UK
keep increasing the population
.
next move build under the new fight paths bring equality.
an increased population will keep our dynamic politicians buzy and bigger tax revenues.
transport ,housing ,energy consumption,co2 production and the quality of life will all improve.
Education,education,education.
brains not needed. smile don't think
doug, northwood,
This is quite clearly redistributive taxation by other means (selling property to selected people at 30% below market value) - and designed to appeal to traditional labour party - as such it also seems like a glorified form of legal vote buying.
What surprises me is that HMRC has not cottoned on to the idea that these deals are "benefits in kind" and should be taxed accordingly!
As for those poor saps doing normal jobs that actually create wealth - tough - you should have worked for the state like 45% of the population.
Old Dogs Breath, Norwich, UK
St. George's development at Imperial Wharf is not a good example. St George were found to have installed more apartments in each block than they agreed with the planners when calculating affordable housing provision. As the affordable housing provision was decided as 50% of a lower number of apartments, they did NOT provide 50% Affordable Housing of the final number.
The term "Affordable Housing" is a misleading term. This kind of housing should be renamed "Government Appropriated Housing" and of course, they would prefer apartments in the more exclusive parts of town, as in a few years time, they can sell them off for £3,000 per square foot!
Phillip, Warlingham, Surrey
The affordable housing requirement is effectively a tax on development land, which drives up the price of all the other units. The governments affordable housing policy is counterproductive and results in fewer and more expensive houses for all the rest of us who do not qualify.
Arnold Ward, Weybridge, Surrey, UK
Carol - have you ever taught in your life? Most teachers I know not only work during the school day, but also have to work afterwards planning their lessons, grading work, etc. My friends arrive at school at 7:45am and don't leave until 4:00 at the earliest, then go home and do work for at least two to four hours, sometimes more. And if they coach or run some kind fo programming for the kids, then add another 2-3 hours per day during the week. It's not the easy work you'd imagine and most of us could have gotten other jobs which pay WAY more than the enormous wages that you imagine we have (how much do you think we earn?) . The reason that they are trying to have housing for key workers is to keep them in the very community (and connect them to it) where they are teaching - something that has been lost, particularly in cities.
Lee, London,
I agree with the above comments. As a legal aid lawyer with 10 years experience, I earn less in a general practice in Shropshire than a teacher. Yet, as a solicitor I am barred from key worker schemes and was laughed at by every housing association I approached - presumably they'd been far too influenced by the media's fat cat portrayal of city lawyers. House prices here are about six times my annual wage.
Rebecca, Shropshire,
this is affordable housing???? I can't afford that £150K flat on my £25K...
paulc, gloucester,
Key workers are not necessarily employed by public service employment, it is the type of job you have. I qualify for key worker status but you try getting one of these companies to contact you if you have a family. The buildings are designed for the single modern professional, and are not practical for families. We have been on the list for four years and initially we had three of four invites to view properties which are further from where we both work. The cost was more than what a two bed flat in South London would cost by 60,000. It is not what its cracked up to be.
Chris, London ,
Woah carol, I take issue with the statement.in particular -teachers receive enormous wages for relatively little work (and shamefully long holidays). Why do we treat these people as special or important. They're no different from the rest of us. - i am not a teacher but do know several very well and they put in longet hours that you can ever think. they don't start and finish when the kids do they keep going. My Aunt is a teacher and leaves the house a 6 every morning and gets back about 8 every evening. Others may not work so many hours but they are full working days. They don't get the same breaks that the kids do. I work in business and we deal with schools. the Holidays are when all the work gets done that can't be done when teaching. Oh and teachers and Hospital staff are very important. Next time you are sick, house is on fire, or trying to get your kids an education so they can get a good job and read the shopping list and can't find someone to help, see what you say then!
Chris, Yorks,
Yes Laura, but who is going to look after you when you are in a nursing home if nurses can't afford to live anywhere near London? The alternative to subsidised housing is to pay essential workers two or three times what they now earn & pass the cost on to the consumer.
Troy Reeves, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
Whatever Laura,
It is hard enough to get people to do those jobs you talk about. Why don't you try doing one yourself. Then you could have a nice flat with granite worktops
Jonny, London, UK
I agree with Laura, this is an absolute disgrace. So called key workers are already immensely privileged, with their job security, high wages and enormous pension schemes, all paid for by the rest of us. In particular, teachers receive enormous wages for relatively little work (and shamefully long holidays). Why do we treat these people as special or important. They're no different from the rest of us.
Carol, Derby,
A disgrace. Immoral. Discrimination for some people, who just happen to have some jobs, having to meet larger space requirements than for affordable housing for non keyworkers.
Preferential treatment given to some people just because of their job, whilst the rest of us walk on by.
Disgusting.
Laura Roberts, London, UK