Liverpool’s Mayor launches new housing company

Liverpool City Council has launched its new housing company, Foundations, which can help residents buy their own homes through a new Rent to Buy scheme.

The housing company, which intends to build and renovate some 10,000 homes in the city in the next decade in a sweeping £1 billion investment programme, is aiming to set up a scheme that enables people to pay reduced rent on Foundations properties so they can save enough money for a deposit to buy the home.

The brainchild of Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson, the company has been set up to improve the availability of good quality, affordable homes in the city, deemed fundamental in addressing the city’s need to develop 30,000 new homes by 2030. It will also be building homes for specific groups including foster carers, large families, the elderly that may wish to down-size and people with a disability.

Mayor Anderson said: “We recognise that getting the cash together for a deposit can be a major challenge for many first time buyers so the new Rent to Buy scheme will play an invaluable part in addressing this problem. I have also asked the Foundations team to explore other financial incentives and by the time homes are available to buy in 2019 there will be an opportunity for some of those, assessed on a per scheme basis, to be available Rent to Buy or through an alternative incentive. Giving people hope and a stake in this city’s future is at the heart of Foundations which is why it is by far the most exciting project I’ve been involved.”