The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has invested £25m to boost new factory-built affordable one and two-bed homes for first-time buyers in the capital.
Sadiq Khan has announced the investment of £25m in Pocket Living to bring more affordable housing to the capital.
The investment will see work start on at least 1,059 new homes by March 2021, with a third expected to be built off-site in a factory and dropped into place. They provide homes for first-time buyers, typically one or two-bed flats, that are sold at least 20 per cent cheaper than market sales. Pocket homes are aimed at local people who must already live in the borough and be first-time buyers. The deal also ensures all homes built remain affordable for the lifetime of the building.
The funding from the Mayor will help finance ongoing site purchases for development. The package is part of the Mayor’s Innovation Fund, using investment secured as part of the Mayor’s £3.15bn deal with government in November last year.
Sadiq Khan, said: “The housing crisis is the biggest challenge facing Londoners today and I have been honest from the start that we won’t be able to turn things round overnight. For decades, we have simply not built enough new and affordable homes in the capital, meaning that for too many Londoners the dream of buying their own home is getting further and further out of reach.
“That is why I am working with Pocket Living to build more than a thousand homes for first-time buyers, using the latest off-site construction techniques to provide attractive and affordable homes as quickly as possible. I will continue to use more of my £3.15bn of funding to invest in innovative schemes like this to build the genuinely affordable homes Londoners need.”
Marc Vlessing, CEO of Pocket Living, said: “Our mission has always been to open up the housing market to hard working young Londoners on low to middle incomes by delivering homes they can afford. This growing group is greatly in need of innovative housing solutions. City Hall’s support for Pocket is yet another demonstration of the Mayor of London’s commitment to tackling the capital’s housing shortage and increasing the range of affordable housing options.”
