Mayor Joe Anderson has officially launched his ‘ethical’ housing venture Foundations which aims to create 10,000 new homes across the city over the next decade. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool’s new £1bn ‘ethical’ housing venture Foundations will establish a rent-to-buy scheme to enable people on low incomes to own their own homes.
City Mayor Joe Anderson officially launched the venture this week which aims to create 10,000 new homes across the city over the next decade with a pledge to include local businesses in the construction.
Its rent-to-buy scheme, which it is expected will be launched in 2019, would enable people to pay reduced rent on properties so they can save enough money for a deposit to buy the home which they are renting.
Foundations is the idea of Mr Anderson who wants to use it to improve the city’s housing, transform the rent-to-buy sector, drive up council tax receipts for the council and stimulate growth by involving local firms, their employees and apprenticeships in the construction work.
“We recognise that getting the cash together for a deposit can be a major challenge for many first time buyers so the new Rent to Buy scheme will play an invaluable part in addressing this problem.
“I have also asked the Foundations team to explore other financial incentives and by the time homes are available to buy in 2019 there will be an opportunity for some of those, assessed on a per scheme basis, to be available rent-to-buy or through an alternative incentive.”
In September, a detailed planning application was submitted by Birkenhead-based partnership homes developer, Lovell Homes, on behalf of Foundations to build more than 100 high-quality homes in the Yew Tree area of east Liverpool.
The company is proposing to build 107 new houses located between Denford Road, Ackers Hall Avenue and Dunchurch Road. If approved, construction on the new houses will start in early 2019, with the first phase of homes completed by 2020 and the second phase by 2022.
People who wish to register their interest in a Foundations home can email general@liverpoolfoundationhomes.co.uk