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Housing association partners with Pocket on 100% affordable development

A large London housing association has partnered with a developer to build a 153-home scheme exclusively for shared ownership and below market sale, on a site originally planned for just 12% affordable housing. 

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Addiscombe Grove, the planned Optivo and Pocket development
Addiscombe Grove, the planned Optivo and Pocket development
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Housing association partners with Pocket on 100% affordable development #ukhousing

Optivo has joined forces with Pocket Living on the £55m scheme, which will be constructed offsite.

Of the 153 flats in the Croydon scheme, 41 (27%) will be shared ownership, managed and sold by Optivo.

The housing association has received £1.15m in Greater London Authority (GLA) grant, and will otherwise be funding the Addiscombe Grove development through a mix of private finance and sales proceeds.

The remaining 112 will be Pocket Living’s own tenure – a 38 square meter, one bedroom flat, sold for a 20% discount on the market price. Buyers must be first-time buyers, live or work in the local authority area, and earn less than £90,000 – a limit set on affordable housing by London mayor Sadiq Khan.

 


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The flats can’t be sublet, and when the buyer moves out they must sell them to someone who also meets these criteria.

Marc Vlessing, founder and chief executive of Pocket Living, said: “The original planning consent had 12% affordable housing, which isn’t much. But both of us [Pocket Living and Optivo] can legitimately say that we’ve quadrupled the amount of affordable housing on that site.”

James Murray, deputy mayor for housing, said: “The mayor is determined to help first-time buyers in London who are struggling to afford a home, so 100% genuinely affordable developments like this play a crucial role.”

Pocket Living has built 581 flats in 20 developments in the capital, since it was set up 13 years ago.

The GLA told Inside Housing it is using the mayor’s £250m land fund to encourage 100% affordable developments in the capital.

The first major deal announced earlier this year was the purchase and sale of Blackhorse Yard in Waltham Forest to Catalyst, on the condition it will be 100% shared ownership.

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