Ben Howlett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to extend schemes of shared ownership for existing housing stock.

Brandon Lewis

The Autumn Statement announced measures to double the number of first time buyers and confirmed £8 billion to deliver over 400,000 affordable housing starts including £4 billion for 135,000 new Help to Buy: Shared Ownership starts by 2020. This will build on the 41,000 new Shared Ownership homes we have delivered since 2010.

We believe that shared ownership has an important role to play, as part of a diverse and thriving housing market, in helping those who aspire to home ownership but may be otherwise unable to afford it. The Government is also committed to working with housing associations to help to develop flexible tenure models and savings vehicles. This could include tenants converting their rented properties into shared ownership, overpaying on their rent in order to take an equity share in their property.