20 August 2004
Almost 400 people have received loans to help them buy homes under the government's latest scheme to house key workers.
Figures published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on August 17 show that, up to the end of July, 260 workers had completed the purchase of their new home using an equity loan, while a further 113 had exchanged contracts.
A total of 7,769 applications had been received by zone agents since the £690m key worker living scheme was launched by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in April – 1,105 of which are at an 'advanced stage', according to the ODPM.
Earlier this month, Liberal Democrat local government spokesman Edward Davey labelled the new scheme a failure after he was informed through a Parliamentary answer that only equity loans of up to £50,000 were being processed.
In fact, workers can also apply for higher value equity loans of up to £100,000, as well as joining shared ownership and intermediate renting schemes. The scheme aims to help at least 16,000 public sector workers find homes over three years.
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