Press Releases
Surrey teacher buys "miracle" first home - 15/02/02
Bridget Lawrence, a maths teacher from Weydon School in Farnham, is the first teacher in Surrey to buy a home using funding from the Starter Homes Initiative. The Starter Homes Initiative is part of the Government's strategy to tackle the severe recruitment and retention problems facing the public services in the South East. With house prices in Surrey 82% above the national average, but public sector pay related to a national scale, lack of affordable accommodation is a key part of these problems.
The Surrey scheme, known as Key Homes, is run by Thames Valley Housing (TVH) in partnership with local authorities and public sector employers. Bridget chose her home on the open market and bought it on a shared ownership basis. She now owns 50% of the property and TVH owns the other half. She pays an affordable rent on the part owned by TVH and can buy further shares in her property is and when she is able.
"It's fabulous," says Bridget. "I never thought I would be able to get on the housing ladder - I have been renting for so many years. It feels like something of a miracle!"
"All parts of Waverley Borough and indeed Surrey are very expensive and it is almost impossible for key workers to be able to buy a home," said David January, Director of Housing at Waverley Borough Council. "This scheme by Thames Valley Housing will enable people who are essantial to the life of the community to stay in Waverley."
Anyone interested in applying for the Key Homes scheme should contact Thames Valley Housing on 020 8607 0628. The scheme is open to teachers, nurses and some health workers, as well as a smaller number of police officers, fire fighters and social workers, who work in Surrey and do not currently own a property.
Notes to editors:
Thames Valley Housing received £17.5m of Starter Homes Initiative funding to provide over 500 homes in Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire over three years. The first purchase in the UK using the new funding was in October 2001, by a nurse from Addlestone, Surrey, also through the TVH Key Homes scheme.
Further Information
Miranda Oakley
Marketing & PR Manager
020 8607 0622
miranda_oakley@tvha.co.uk
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