Boris allocates £220m fund for London affordable housing

Boris allocates £220m fund for London affordable housing

The Mayor of London has earmarked a £220m fund to enable the delivery of 6,000 affordable houses in the capital over the next 10 years.

Boris Johnson’s £180m First Steps Challenge Fund aims to accelerate the delivery of 4,000 new homes between 2015 and 2020. It is being made available on a recoverable basis so that money can be reinvested to provide more opportunities for affordable home seekers, and forms part of the Mayor’s pledge to assist 250,000 Londoners into low cost housing by 2025.

The Mayor is also granting up to £40m of loan finance to Gentoo’s Genie for a new housing product where buyers will need no deposit or mortgage to purchase their home and at the end of the agreement customers own 100% of the home outright. The scheme aims to deliver an additional 2,000 new homes over the next 10 years.

Johnson made the announcements as he visited Erith Park in Bexley, a major new regeneration project, with 80% affordable rent and shared ownership homes.

He said: “Families need larger properties and Erith Park is testament to the number of well-designed affordable three bedroom family homes with gardens that can be delivered with good planning, major regeneration and investment. I want the funding announced today to help thousands more Londoners own homes and create more developments like Erith Park delivering excellent affordable properties.”

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