News
March 2008 announcement
Tuesday 18 March 2008
Statement explaining that no new applications can be taken for Co-Ownership at this time due to funding shortage.
Alan Crowe, Chief Executive of Co-Ownership Housing stated today:
"It is with great regret that I announce that since close of business on Friday 14 March 2008, Co-Ownership is unable to accept new applications to help people wishing to buy an affordable home at this time.
Despite the £205 millions available for social housing as a whole over the next three years together with a series of changes announced to enhance the successful Co-Ownership scheme, our funding has now been confirmed at £15 millions for the 2008/09 financial year starting in April and it is simply not enough to meet any further applications for Co-Ownership. We expect it will be enough to deliver the 525 homes limit in the new Programme for Government, but the potential is there for so much more.
In recent months we have broken records with the high numbers of people helped to buy their homes with Co-Ownership, and demand continues to be very strong. We will top the 900 mark for households helped into an affordable home in 2007/08. And over and above that we are currently working with some 700 households who are in the process of applying to buy a home with Co-Ownership.
Central to the affordability gap we have in housing here in Northern Ireland has been that properties have become much more expensive than say 2 or 3 years ago, compared to average incomes. Put briefly, more money is needed every year and this year there is simply not going to be enough.
We do not expect this announcement will affect the 700 plus households who are currently in the middle of purchasing a home through Co-Ownership. At this time, it is business as usual for them. Neither will it affect the 4,000 households who currently own a Co-Ownership home. We have taken all necessary measures to notify and reassure applicants and current home owners about what is happening.
However as Northern Ireland’s regional body for shared ownership and the only viable option for people to reach that first rung of the property ladder, the funding allocation means we are seriously limited in the work we can do to help at a time when our services were never more needed.
Now is not the time to cut back on the number of Co-Ownership homes – the only real option for many hundreds of people looking to get onto the Northern Ireland property ladder. With just a little more public funding we believe Co-Ownership can actually increase the number of affordable homes while bringing down the cost per home so far as government grant is concerned to around 25%. We will continue to put the case for Co-Ownership funding in the strongest terms.”
