11 Oct 2011, 5:02 pm
It is claimed to be the first scheme of its kind in the country and would specifically target Cornwall, which has one of the biggest affordable housing shortages in the country.
The scheme will be similar to the government’s First Buy model but will be specifically tailored to the county.
Under the proposed scheme, the Council will offer the developer the option to sell homes at a discount of up to 40 per cent, instead of requesting affordable housing contributions through a 'mitigation' agreement under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act.
The discount percentage would then be passed over to the Council as an equity loan to the purchaser, and then on re-sale the Council would be repaid this percentage of the market value by the homeowner.
The money raised on the re-sale of properties in the scheme could then be recycled by the Council to help other people in need of affordable housing.
The Council claims that the scheme would allow small local developers to take part, which is a deviation from the Government's First Buy scheme. The First Buy Scheme targets large volume housebuilders and the schemes are too big for local contractors, Planning Resource reported.
The local shared equity loan scheme has recently been proposed to the Council's scrutiny committee and is set to be launched within the next six weeks.
