At the end of September 2021, the new Labour Mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, Nik Johnson, axed the £100k Homes policy which was set to roll out affordable home ownership across Cambridgeshire.
£100k Homes are new-build, 100% owned, one-bedroom properties, available to buy at a discounted market rate of £100,000. They are aimed at giving people who live or work locally a genuinely affordable step on the housing ladder, while enabling them to live close to where they work. The discount stays with the house forever, being passed on to future buyers so more people can benefit into the future.
Knowing that the closure of the £100k Homes scheme by Labour Mayor Nik Johnson was coming, at the July meeting of the District Council’s Finance & Assets Committee Conservatives adopted the scheme at East Cambridgeshire District Council instead to make sure local people in East Cambs can still benefit. All Liberal Democrat Members of the Committee voted against the adoption of the £100k Homes policy.
£100k Homes are allocated to people with the strongest ties to the area in which they are built. To be eligible for a £100k Home applicants must show that they have links to the local community, such as living and working there and having family living there. Through a scoring framework, eligible people with the strongest links to the area will score the highest; the highest scoring applicants will be offered a £100k Home.
Eight £100k Homes have already been delivered at the Hill development, Rayners Green in Fordham. Four £100k Homes are nearing completion at The Old Tannery, Forehill, Ely with a further four secured by planning condition at the former swimming pool site in Newnham Street in Ely. £100k Homes will also form part of the Kennett Garden Village development.
We are seeking other opportunities to deliver £100k Homes in East Cambridgeshire. However, a new Government led policy called First Homes is set to effectively take over next year.
First Homes
Born from the principles of Cambridgeshire’s £100k Homes, ‘First Homes’, is a very similar Government led discounted home ownership model, which will be rolled out nationally. It will include larger units to cater for families and will require developers to deliver 25% of their affordable housing contribution as First Homes.
First Homes will effectively replace £100k Homes, with the first houses within the scheme expected to hit the market nationally in 2022. Local Authorities will be in control of the allocations policy which enables us to continue what we have already been doing in East Cambs through the Community Land Trust model as well as through £100k Homes – ensure homes go to people with a local connection to where the homes are built.
Conservatives are firmly committed to affordable home ownership for residents in East Cambs as part of a well-balanced mix of tenure types, to help people to be able to afford to buy a home close to where they live or work.
