PricedOut > Blog - Helping key workers into affordable homes in Yorkshire and The Humber region

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Posted by: PricedOut	Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:32:29 GMT
Helping key workers into affordable homes in Yorkshire and The Humber region Published: Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:18:57 Key workers including nurses, police and teachers in the region are being given new support to help them onto the housing ladder, announced Housing Minister Yvette Cooper. Long term increases in house prices, due to rising housing demand has meant many key workers are increasingly finding it difficult to buy a home in the region. Rising economic growth and household growth in Yorkshire and the Humber means there is growing demand for housing but the number of new homes in the region has not kept up. PricedOut says – Obviously all areas need key workers, and key workers should be paid enough to buy homes to live in. We have become used to special measures for key workers in London – but the fact that this is necessary in Yorkshire and Humber should be ringing alarm bells loud and clear. Something is very wrong. Housing is unaffordable. This needs to be fixed. A recent Halifax survey showed that first time buyers are facing housing affordability pressures in most towns and cities across England. That is why the Government is clear that more new homes are needed in Yorkshire and The Humber, including more affordable homes, with £559 million new government investment planned for thousands more affordable and social homes in the region over the next few years. But in the meantime the Government wants more to be done to increase access to low cost homes for key workers and other first time buyers in the region. Up to now, shared equity and shared ownership homes have predominately been available in the South East, but the Government wants to see more people take up these opportunities in all parts of the country. The Government is today stepping up its drive to make it easier for nurses, teachers, police officers, fire-fighters and other workers to apply for help available to them to buy a low cost home. PricedOut says – if houses were the right price, everybody with a reasonable job should be able to afford to buy one – including key workers. The existence of the key worker scheme is evidence of unaffordability. The extent to which the keyworker scheme reaches across our country is evidence of widespread unaffordability.

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Re: Helping key workers into affordable homes in Yorkshire and The Humber region

By niq on Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:57:07 GMT

Helping some workers (like "key workers") only serves to further marginalise others. And by pouring more public money into the housing market, it pushes prices up. Though it's pretty marginal compared to Northern Rock and others. Glad to have found this site. You seem to be making good arguments, particularly about the madness of big tax-breaks for house and land owners compared to other investments, savings, or indeed earnings.

Re: Helping key workers into affordable homes in Yorkshire and The Humber region

By Stubby on Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:41:19 GMT

As a 'non key-worker' who works for a county council as a librarian, I earn considerably less than a teacher and some nurses etc and get no help finding/paying for a home. I agree that keyworkers are important people fulfilling an important role, but I can't help feel excluded by the scheme. Surely a better more long term solution would be to provide affodable houses for everyone, rather than picking and choosing who is more deserving?

Re: Helping key workers into affordable homes in Yorkshire and The Humber region	By baff on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 02:52:08 GMT
key workers they intend to help earn either the average wage or more, if they cant afford a house how do the 2/3 of the population earning less than the average wage afford one?

Re: Helping key workers into affordable homes in Yorkshire and The Humber region	By Lucy on Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:46:37 GMT
As a key worker i have been intrigued by the scheme but it is not really low cost. the cheapest in my area (the north) is 150,000 that is for a 1 bed flat. surely that will plummet in value. They help you get on the ladder but what about the resale value?

Re: Helping key workers into affordable homes in Yorkshire and The Humber region

By Richard Watts on Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:12:33 GMT

You should all be jumping up and down and planning to go to Europe - Key Worker absolute trash - who is a key worker the mechanic that fixes the Fire Engine when it's broken or the Fire Fighter who uses it - the IT Engineer that restores the network or the Council Workers that use it to process tax credits - WE ARE ALL KEY WORKERS - believe it! Lancashire County Council are handing gifts of £28,000 to so called key workers so they can buy houses - I'm jumping up and down because their definition sent to me clearly is "PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS" - I'm thinking about Civil War! That's my taxes they are giving away ...

Re: Helping key workers into affordable homes in Yorkshire and The Humber region	By Tom Corfield on Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:22:56 GMT
As a key worker myself I an say this scheme is absloute rubbish. There is no 'gift' of £28,000 or any other amount, you simply but an equity share and pay rent on the remaining share. Why bother they should scrap this scheme as it just inflates prices further

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