A long-term housing strategy that works for everyone – the case for shared ownership

Mark Perry, Chief Executive of VIVID Housing, explains in his blog what the government could do to support a brighter future for shared ownership.

It’s widely known that home ownership for many people in our society is completely out of reach.

In the South East, house prices now require multipliers of between seven and ten times the median national average salary to secure a mortgage to buy your first home, while private rents average around £1,200 a month.

So, we should all welcome the government’s ambition to build 1.5 million new homes over the life of this parliament, including the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. But what about those people who don’t qualify via the local authority housing waiting list system but can’t afford to buy outright?

We believe that to help this set of people secure a decent home, it’s vital the government’s long-term housing strategy includes a focus on shared ownership homes, including steps that support the tenure and its future supply. Shared ownership has played a vital role in UK housing for the last 40 years and there’s a strong need for it to play a bigger role in future.

In our region, we see high levels of interest in shared ownership homes and our data reveals that one third of the enquiries we received last year came from key workers or those in public sector roles. In short, we’re talking about people who work at the heart of many of our local economies and in jobs that support the health, safety, and future of our local communities.

There’s been no clearly defined initiative or plan to support their specific needs though since the early 2000s. So, when the government is going for gold on growth and looking to drive change across the public sector, surely seeing a thriving, well-supported affordable home ownership product in the housing marketplace is a no brainer?

The last set of changes made to shared ownership by Homes England were certainly a positive step forward, like the introduction of greater flexibility around staircasing. We know the tenure isn’t perfect, and we recognise there’s a need for further changes to be considered in future. It’s important to note that some of the issues that are being faced by customers right now are not directly related to shared ownership and need addressing in their own right.

So, what more could the government do to help support a brighter future for shared ownership? From our view, there are several steps worthy of consideration:

• Ringfencing funds from the next Affordable Homes Programme to better help support future delivery.
• Strengthening local development plans to see key worker housing specific and shared ownership site allocations brought forward in local development plans, where there’s demand.
• Introducing planning and financial incentives for public sector organisations to promote surplus land for redevelopment with 100% shared ownership housing and/or including key worker specific homes.
• Working with banks and others in the financial sector to see an improved pool of lenders and products made available to help those people looking to buy a shared ownership home.

If the government wants to deliver a long-term housing strategy that works for all, there’s a clear and compelling case for shared ownership homes to be a firm feature and to benefit from further support.