TfL land will be used to build homes for first-time buyers priced out of the market
The partnership between Transport for London and Pocket Living will see the property developer build around 125 one bedroom homes (subject to planning) on TfL sites. The properties will then be sold outright to buyers at a discount from the open market value.
Pocket Living’s business model is to build affordable housing, without public subsidy, sold outright to buyers at a discount to the local market of at least 20%.
People living or working in the borough, and are first time buyers, will be prioritised by Pocket homes, which are targeted specifically at local singles and couples, who earn too much to qualify for social housing, but are priced out of the open market. Pocket buyers own 100% of their property from day one.
When a Pocket home is sold on in the future, new purchasers must meet the original criteria and have a household income below the Mayor of London’s affordable housing threshold.
Buy-to-let investors are excluded from purchasing a Pocket home, and Pocket owners need to prove that they are resident in their homes every year to check that they are not sub-letting.
TfL is releasing a number of its sites for the residential development with a commitment to delivering social rented and other genuinely affordable housing.
The scheme is one part of the Mayor of London’s work to tackle London’s housing crisis.
Graeme Craig, director of commercial development at TfL, said: “Pocket Living is building a great reputation for high quality, genuinely affordable housing for first-time buyers, and will help us develop sites that would not otherwise come forward.
“This partnership marks another important step in us assembling the most important development pipeline in London – building thousands of social rented and other genuinely affordable homes across the capital and generating hundreds of millions of pounds to reinvest in the transport network.”
Marc Vlessing, CEO of Pocket Living, said: “Pocket Living is delighted to be working with TfL to deliver homes Londoners desperately need.
“Pocket has always been at the heart of innovative collaborations in the housing sector and we believe new thinking and working in partnership is crucial if we are serious about tackling the housing crisis.
“More affordable homes are crucial for London’s city makers, its teachers, nurses and charity workers, who are currently priced out of the open market and salaried out of social housing.
“The Mayor and his team at the GLA and TfL have rightly identified affordable housing as a priority and recognised the need to speed up the supply of homes.”
The TfL partnership with Pocket Living is one of many announced in recent months, with plans in place to build more than 10,000 homes on its own portfolio across London.
Since May 2016, half of all the housing that TfL has brought forward has been social rented or other genuinely affordable homes.