Earlier this week in Parliament I took the opportunity of a parliamentary question time session to ask the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Brandon Lewis MP, what actions the government was taking to support young people in buying a home, particularly focussing on help for young people so that they can afford to live in the areas where they grew up via the new Rural Starter Homes Programme.
Responding to my question, the Minister said,
“My Honourable Friend makes a very good point. The need for starter homes and affordable homes for people to purchase is as important in rural areas as it is in urban areas, and I am delighted that we will be able to take that project forward and see 200,000 starter homes delivered for first-time buyers across the country.”
Under the Rural Starter Homes Programme, published as part of the Rural Productivity Plan, villages and towns in England’s rural communities will be allowed to build starter homes for local residents.
Measures covered by the plan include amending planning rules to allow Starter Homes to be built on Rural Exception Sites for the first time. This will allow local areas to allocate more sites for Starter Homes specifically for people who already live in the area, or have an existing family or employment connection to the area.
In addition the plan will seek to assess alternative solutions to rural broadband, improve rural transport and ensuring fairer funding for rural schools.
Also this week new figures have shown that Help to Buy has helped 303 people to buy their own home in Mid Worcestershire.
Help to Buy was introduced to help people to save for a deposit to buy their own home. Help to Buy has now enabled nearly 120,000 families to buy a new home. 80 per cent of those helped are first-time buyers and 95 per cent of completions have been outside of London.
The Chancellor has now said that the stronger economy and financial system means the Government expects banks to start to exit the Help to Buy Mortgage scheme, which was introduced in times of financial distress and will come to an end next year in any case.
The Help to Buy shared equity scheme continues to go from strength to strength and the new Help to Buy ISA the Government is launching in December will provide generous support to those saving for their first home by providing a government boost on their deposit.
I am frequently contacted by constituents who tell me they love this area, but are struggling to afford to live here.
These steps will help enable more local people to continue to live in Worcestershire which we all know is a very attractive place to live, work, start a business and bring up a family.
I am particularly keen to help make the aspiration of home ownership a reality for more people in Worcestershire and welcome the recent Help to Buy figures.