The £960 million plan aims to help low income families and key workers through a shared ownership scheme. Yet the report warned the government lacked evidence to suggest the scheme was helping these specific groups.
catch up on the industry buzz
It stated that most new social housing tenants had household incomes of less than £20,000, yet the Open Market Homebuy product’s requirement to buy 75 per cent of the property placed it out of their reach. The government has now proposed to develop an option to allow people to buy 50-70 per cent.
The committee also noted a dearth of information on the scheme’s impact on local housing markets or the extent to which people moved on to purchase their property outright. It said ‘misdirected low cost home ownership assistance’ could increase demand for houses in hotspots and fuel house price growth.
Download our news ticker
However, Housing Minister Yvette Cooper has rejected the committee’s claims.
Neil Johnson, PR and policy manager for the Building Societies Association, said: “This is an important shot across the government’s bows and the committee has fulfilled an important role in identifying these issues. Hopefully the government will heed this report.”
