Ex-council houses to be bought back

Reporter: BEATRIZ AYALA
Date online: 03/07/2009

FAMILIES in Oldham are set to benefit from five more affordable homes in the borough after a £300,000 grant was awarded to First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO).

Five more empty houses will now be brought back into use after the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) issued the grant to FCHO, who is responsible for managing the council’s housing stock.

It will buy five empty houses that were previously sold by Oldham Council under the Right-to-Buy scheme and refurbish them to meet current Decent Homes standards.

The houses will then be let at affordable rents to families in need through the Housing Options Centre.

Councillor John McCann, cabinet member for community services and housing, said: “This is one of the first grants given by the Homes and Community Agency to buy back former right-to-buy homes as most grants have been used to build new affordable accommodation.

“It is very much an initiative that is fully supported by the council which has approved borrowing of £192,000 to cover the gap between the grant and the total cost of buying the houses and refurbishing them (£492,000).”

Oldham Council will be supporting FCHO in the coming months to submit further bids to the HCA in to build additional new affordable houses to rent across Oldham.