23 March 2007
Families in temporary accommodation are being offered the opportunity of a permanent home after a London council announced plans to buy back 200 properties sold under the right-to-buy scheme.
The homes will be purchased over the next two years by Westminster City Council, providing that it successfully finalises a £46m scheme with Dolphin Square, a charitable foundation.
Westminster plans to borrow £9.6m over the next five years. Other funds will come from the Department for Communities and Local Government, Dolphin Square and the council's own affordable housing fund.
More than 3,000 of the 5,500 households on Westminster's waiting list are homeless and in temporary accommodation. Tenants moving into the ex-RTB homes will initially pay higher rent, and then be offered an equity share.
Sir Simon Milton, the leader of Westminster council, said it was giving working households the opportunity to benefit from the growth in value of homes, while extending home ownership to people who could not otherwise afford it.
PFmar2007
