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Housing Minister helps celebrate 450 homes for Key Workers - 29/09/03
Housing Minister Keith Hill visited The Royal Surrey County Hospital Guildford today. He met a nurse who has become the 450th key worker to purchase a first home through the Thames Valley Housing Key Homes scheme. TVH was allocated £24 million of Government funding in 2001 as part of the Starter Home Initiative scheme, and is well on the way to helping its target of 750 key workers in Surrey and the surrounding area to purchase homes of their own.
The event has been organised by Thames Valley Housing, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, NHS and Guildford Borough Council to celebrate the success of the scheme. Other key workers who have purchased through Key Homes were also present, including local nurses and teachers.
Housing Minster Keith Hill said,
This event marks an extremely welcome landmark. I congratulate the Thames Valley Housing Scheme, which has now helped over 450 health workers, teachers and police in Surrey and surrounding areas to buy a home of their own. Over 60 key workers in Guildford alone have benefited from the scheme.
This is part of the Government £250 million Starter Home Initiative, which has now helped over 4,000 key workers, primarily in London and the South East, into home ownership. Funding is still available, so I urge key workers such as health workers, teachers and the police who are considering buying their first home to apply now.
The latest research from the Halifax shows that Surrey is the most expensive county for property in the UK with an average house price of over £280,000, higher than Greater London, making it very difficult for key workers to buy homes.
The 450th purchaser is Michaela Stevenson, a staff nurse at Royal Surrey County Hospital, who has purchased a 1-bed apartment in Aldershot, Hampshire with the help of a starter loan, which is not repayable until she sells the property. She said, Property prices were out of my reach and this has been a first step up on the property ladder. I am now secure in my new home and looking forward to progressing my career.
The scheme has been extremely successful in Surrey and funding is still available. Interested key workers should telephone 020 8607 0628 for an information pack. You can also visit the Key Homes page on this site for more information.
Further Information
For media enquiries only:
Miranda Oakley
020 8607 0622
miranda_oakley@tvha.co.uk
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