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Homeless families ‘could save for mortgage deposits’, says Conservative candidate for London mayor
The Conservative mayoral candidate for City Hall has said many of the capital’s 62,000 homeless households in temporary accommodation could save for a mortgage deposit and buy a shared ownership home.
In an interview with Inside Housing, Shaun Bailey defended his plans to use housing budgets to build a higher proportion of shared ownership homes – where residents buy a share and rent the remainder – than Sadiq Khan.
Mr Bailey has promised to deliver 100,000 affordable homes with his £4bn housing budget if he wins the election in April, with a large proportion of them shared ownership.
He hopes buyers will be able to purchase a share for as little as £100,000, meaning a mortgage could be available for a deposit of £5,000.
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But according to the most recent figures, London has 62,670 households in temporary accommodation, including 44,190 with children – more than double the figures in the rest of the country combined.
Asked how his housing plans would help these families, Mr Bailey said: “A large number of those 62,000 people you’ve identified would not be eligible for what he’s [Mr Khan] saying and would be eligible for what I’m saying.”
Asked how these families would produce a £5,000 deposit and secure a mortgage, he said: “I don’t think the £5,000 will [be a problem]. The mortgage application thing might be a bit tougher… They could save for it, yeah.”
Read the full interview with Mr Bailey here
He added that when he was homeless and sofa surfing in his 20s, he would not have been able to save for a mortgage deposit, but he was confident “a full proportion” of homeless families today would be able to (see box, Mr Bailey’s comments in full).
In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Bailey also explained that his plan is not to build 100,000 shared ownership homes, as he had previously suggested, but instead to build 100,000 affordable homes of all tenures with shared ownership making up the largest proportion.
He said this was to help Londoners attain “a stake” in the city and serve those whose incomes are too high to qualify for social housing but still cannot afford to buy in the city.
“I spent my entire existence just trawling across London trying to find the cheapest rent, so I’m trying to get people away from rogue landlords and into much more secure situations,” he said.
Asked what he would do differently to Mr Khan to fix the post-Grenfell crisis of building safety which has left many properties in the capital with serious fire defects and leaseholders on the hook to pay, Mr Bailey said: “I don’t know that there’s anything you can do differently other than really, really press down on government to make sure they provide subsidies to get these buildings changed.”
“It’s got nothing to do with ‘against the party’,” he added. “It’s what’s right for London. There’s a lot of people in a very, very sticky situation.”
Mr Bailey’s comments in full
Picture: Rex Features
As part of Inside Housing’s interview with Shaun Bailey, he was asked what the implications of increasing funding for shared ownership would be for those in temporary accommodation. This was the exchange:
Inside Housing: You talk about moving the dial, but it sounds like you are moving the dial towards a housing product which would be less useful to people in that position [in temporary accommodation]. I appreciate not all of them qualify for social housing but some would… I just wonder why you identify that gap in Sadiq’s delivery and yet are moving away from it?
Shaun Bailey: You see, I disagree. I’m not moving further away from it, I’m leaning into it. Because let’s look at the history here: Sadiq has identified something and then failed to address it. So what I have done is said, ‘I accept the identification, how do we address?’ Let’s reduce the amount of people in dire housing need, that’s the first thing.
A large number of those 62,000 people you’ve identified would not be eligible for what he’s [Sadiq] saying and would be eligible for what I’m saying. The bottom line whatever either of us say, Sadiq or myself, we have to entice people back to build. We will have this housing problem forever if we don’t entice people back to build.
IH: Your case isn’t that people in temporary housing could buy shared ownership, is it? The £5,000 deposit would preclude that for starters, as would the mortgage application process I imagine.
SB: I don’t think the £5,000 will. The mortgage application thing might be a bit tougher.
IH: So you think someone in temporary accommodation could put up £5,000 for a mortgage deposit?
SB: They could save for it, yeah.
IH: A family in bed and breakfast accommodation could save £5,000 for a mortgage deposit?
SB: Not all of them, but some people could. A full proportion of people could. This is the thing isn’t it, this is what Sadiq Khan has done. He has made the debate all about the extremes. I know about that situation, I sofa surfed for years. You’re right, I definitely couldn’t have come up with £5,000, but those people I’m not expecting to or asking to. We’ll provide social housing for them.
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