Government warned over affordable rural housing scheme

30-Sep-2005

It has been claimed that measures designed to improve affordable housing options in the countryside are not working.

According to Moira Constable, of the Rural Housing Trust, the government's shared ownership schemes can only provide part of the solution to the growing problem of a lack of affordable housing for aspiring homeowners.

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Earlier this year, the government unveiled plans to offer first time buyers shared ownership schemes to help them finance their purchase, but Ms Constable argues that there cannot be a situation whereby the building of new affordable houses continues almost indefinitely.

Unless more money is put into the development of affordable housing options in rural areas, Ms Constable claims villages will become "enclaves for the very rich".

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Rural affairs minister Jim Knight agreed that more needed to be done, adding that delivering affordable housing for aspiring first time buyers in rural areas is "undoubtedly the biggest challenge we face in rural England".

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