Dear Sir or Madam,

Of the 29 Key Worker Homes completed at 6-10 Station Road, Fareham in March 2005 by Eastleigh Housing Association, how many were sold to key workers and how many were rented to key workers, and since the abolition of the Key Workers initiative in [probably] March 2006, how many properties at this development have been sold - (1)to Key Workers and (2) to others.

Thank you

Yours faithfully,

R Kellett

I acknowledge receipt of your enquiry under the Freedom of Information
Act. We will deal with the matter and get back to you in due course.

Marianne Zierau | Information and Complaints Assistant
Housing Corporation | Maple House | 149 Tottenham Court Road | London
W1T 7BN
Tel: 020 7393 2283 | Fax: 020 7393 2099
E-mail [email address]
www.housingcorp.gov.uk

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Dear Ms Kellett

I am now able to reply to your request under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 dated 7 May 2008 and shown below.

You have asked us for information about 29 Key Worker units at 6-10
Station Road Fareham which were built by Eastleigh Housing Association.

Eastleigh Housing Association is now Atlantic Housing Association. None
of the 29 Key Worker units at 6-10 Station Road have been sold; they are
all Intermediate Market Rented.

You suggest in your request that the Key Worker initiative has been
abolished. I can confirm that since April 2006, the Corporation has not
funded further New Build HomeBuy schemes specifically for key workers.
However, the Corporation continues to have a target for providing key
worker homes through Open Market HomeBuy; general New Build HomeBuy
schemes or Intermediate Rent Homes.

I hope this information is useful to you.

Final comments:
If you are dissatisfied with my response, you may request an internal
review. To do this you should contact Mr Peter Driver, Board Secretary,
at The Housing Corporation, Maple House, 149 Tottenham Court Road,
London W1T 7BN. You should make your application no later than 40
working days from when you receive this response. Once you have been
through our internal review process you may then contact the Information
Commissioner whose address is Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Marianne Zierau | Information and Complaints Assistant
Housing Corporation | Maple House | 149 Tottenham Court Road | London
W1T 7BN
Tel: 020 7393 2283 | Fax: 020 7393 2099
E-mail [email address]
www.housingcorp.gov.uk

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Dear Marianne Zierau,

Thank you for your response.

When and why were the rules changed, thereby enabling Atlantic Housing to retain ownership of the 27x2 bed and 2x1 bed flats at Middleton Mews that were built with a grant of £1,130,000 of tax-payers' money, instead of selling them to key workers on a shared-ownership basis,as was the original intention?

Yours sincerely,

R Kellett

I acknowledge receipt of your request under the Freedom of Information Act. We will deal with the request and respond to you in due course.

Marianne Zierau | Information and Complaints Assistant
Housing Corporation | Maple House | 149 Tottenham Court Road | London W1T 7BN
Tel: 020 7393 2283 | Fax: 020 7393 2099
E-mail [email address]
www.housingcorp.gov.uk

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Dear Ms Kellett

I am now able to reply to your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 dated 5 June 2008 and shown below.

You have asked us for information about flats at Middleton Mews.

I can confirm that the total grant approved for Middleton Mews was £1,130,000 and that the scheme was originally approved as KeyWorker New Build. In 2005 the Cascade principle was introduced in order to help housing associations in cases where take up of the units was slow and as a result the above units are now Intermediate Rent homes.

As previously stated Key Worker homes are now provided through Open Market HomeBuy; general New Build HomeBuy schemes or Intermediate Rent Homes which means that the flats at Middleton Mews are still available for KeyWorkers.

I hope this information is useful to you.

Final comments:
If you are dissatisfied with my response, you may request an internal review. To do this you should contact Mr Peter Driver, Board Secretary, at The Housing Corporation, Maple House, 149 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7BN. You should make your application no later than 40 working days from when you receive this response. Once you have been through our internal review process you may then contact the Information Commissioner whose address is Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Marianne Zierau | Information and Complaints Assistant
Housing Corporation | Maple House | 149 Tottenham Court Road | London W1T 7BN
Tel: 020 7393 2283 | Fax: 020 7393 2099
E-mail [email address]
www.housingcorp.gov.uk

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Dear Marianne Zierau,

Thank you for your reply.

Jon Rouse, Chief Executive, is on public record as saying that it was known in January 2005 that Key worker Shared Ownership properties could not be sold. What date did the changes you refered to take effect?

Yours sincerely,

R Kellett

I am now able to reply to your most recent request.

After an pilot in Summer 2005 the 'cascade mechanism' was fully rolled
out in November 2005.

I am surprised that you state that our former Chief Executive Jon Rouse
is on records as saying that it was know in January 2005 that Key Worker
Shared Ownership properties could not be sold. I have searched
extensively to find this statement but with no luck. In stead I have
found a speech made by Jon Rouse 25 January 2005 at the National Housing
Federation's Chief Executives' Conference where he outlined the 5 year
Housing Plan in which a key element is to extend ownership. Please
follow this link to read the full speech
http://hcnet/upload/pdf/speech250105.pdf. I will be happy to search
further for the statement referred to in your E-mail if you can give me
some more information such as where is the statement recorded (which
public record) and if possible when was it made; it will be great help
if you have a web link to the statement.

Please note that the 'cascade mechanism' does not prevent housing
associations from selling homes through Open Market HomeBuy or New Build
HomeBuy; in stead it gives them the added option to rent out properties
for which they have problems finding buyers.

Final comments:
If you are dissatisfied with my response, you may request an internal
review. To do this you should contact Mr Peter Driver, Board Secretary,
at The Housing Corporation, Maple House, 149 Tottenham Court Road,
London W1T 7BN. You should make your application no later than 40
working days from when you receive this response. Once you have been
through our internal review process you may then contact the Information
Commissioner whose address is Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Marianne Zierau | Information and Complaints Assistant
Housing Corporation | Maple House | 149 Tottenham Court Road | London
W1T 7BN
Tel: 020 7393 2283 | Fax: 020 7393 2099
E-mail [email address]
www.housingcorp.gov.uk

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail or its
attachments

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Dear Marianne Zierau,

Thank you for the information provided.

On 4 December 2006, Mr Rouse was a witness at the Public Accounts Committee hearing "A foot on the ladder: Low cost home ownership assistance", which was broadcast on the Parliamentary TV channel. I have never seen the "Corrected Transcript of Oral Evidence, to be published as HC 134-i House of Commons" but Mr David Corner, National Audit Office Director, responding to my written question about this matter identified para's 29/30.

For your information, I am particularly concerned about why properties at Middleton Mews [situated in a highly desireable area between Southampton and Fareham] were advertised as being available for shared ownership purchase by newly qualifying key workers [categories having been extended for 6 months from October 2005-March 2006] but at the same time were instead rented under rules which Mr Corner explained required Eastleigh H.A.[now Atlantic]to demonstrate to Swaythling [the Hampshire Zone agent] and the Housing Corporation that the properties had been empty for at least three months and were not attracting purchasers...and, of course, why Eastleigh H.A. [now Atlantic] was not required to repay the public funding once it was agreed to allow them to retain ownership of these properties.

Yours sincerely,

R Kellett