29 January 2009
LSE London, together with the Tenant Services Authority and the Cambridge Centre for Planning and Housing Research hosted a forum to present and discuss a new Report for the TSA on the current market for low cost home ownership. This developed from earlier research completed for the Housing Corporation in mid 2008 entitled, LCHO: Affordability, Risks and Issues. The specific aims of the current study were (i) to explore the nature of regional markets for LCHO offered by Housing Associations since the downturn and (ii) to clarify the impact of private developer shared equity schemes on Housing Associations and the degree to which they are competing with these schemes.
The session was introduced and chaired by Tony Travers, from the LSE. Speakers included the authors of the Report, Gemma Burgess, Fiona Lyall Grant and Christine Whitehead; as well as respondent Peter Marsh, Chief Executive of the Tenant Services Authority.
Following the presentation, there was detailed discussion of how low cost home ownership was operating in the current economic environment; on the specifics of different policies; on the financing difficulties specific to shared ownership; on valuation issues; and the continuing problems of funding.
For further details, please contact lselondon@lse.ac.uk.
