Affordable housing 'must be quality housing'

09-Jan-2006

It has been claimed that affordable housing developments in the UK need to be of a good quality to attract aspiring first time buyers.

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While the market conditions at present mean that there is a significant demand for affordable homes and cheap properties for first time buyers, the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) has told the government that people will not buy the properties if they consider them to be of sub-standard quality.

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Referring specifically to the government's Thames Gateway affordable housing programme, the ippr has claimed that many properties will remain empty unless lessons from previous schemes are learnt.

The ippr explains that aspiring homeowners will not purchase properties that they consider to be of a poor quality, even if they are cheap, and therefore the government must ensure its flagship scheme at the Thames Gateway points the way for future affordable housing developments by offering high-quality properties at low prices.

Such aims are already the focus of the deputy prime minister John Prescott's plans for housebuilders to develop a property which costs just £60,000 to build.

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