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03
Sept 2020
Harrogate Borough Council plans £10m homes boost
Harrogate Borough Council is looking to loan its housing company Bracewell Homes £10m to invest in shared ownership homes.
A report is due to go before HBC's cabinet next week to rubber-stamp the move, which would see the authority make more investments like its recent unprecedented £4.5m spend on 52 homes on Whinney Lane.
With shared ownership, people buy between a quarter and three-quarters of a property from the council but then have the option to buy a bigger share in the property at a later date. The scheme is aimed at people who don't earn enough to buy a home outright.
The council sees shared ownership as a way for people earning a modest salary to get on Harrogate's notoriously unforgiving housing ladder.
HBC's draft housing strategy 2019-24 said the town was one of the most unaffordable places to live in England, with average house prices around 11 times the median annual income of people who work in the town.
Read more:
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HBC asks housing developers to include 40% "affordable" housing in every development, which can include shared ownership homes.
When the council formed Bracewell Homes in 2019, a key part of its business plan was to purchase affordable shared ownership homes from developers, as it is doing on Whinney Lane.
With several major developments planned for the district over the coming years, HBC now says it wants to accelerate these types of investments.
Bracewell Homes has also earmarked other sites in the district to develop, including Frogmore in Knaresborough, on vacant and derelict land behind some council homes.
A council spokesperson said:
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