A redundant site in the Parkside area of Seaham has been transformed with 48 new low-cost homes by believe housing.
The 30 family homes and 18 bungalows have been built on a brown field site in Heathway. The last new families are due to move in this month after construction, delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, was completed.
All 30 of the three-bedroom family houses have been constructed as part of the m!ne ‘Rent to Buy’ programme. m!ne is believe housing’s rent to buy arm.
The homes created by m!ne help to bridge the gap between rental and traditional home ownership, allowing more people to climb the property ladder. The government backed initiative is designed to ease the transition from renting to buying a home by providing subsidised rent; usually around 20% below the market rate.
Claire Coakley and her partner have been living in the area for some time, but thought that the up-front cash required to buy a new house was impossible for them to achieve until they learnt about m!ne.
“We’d been looking to buy but saving the deposit meant we couldn’t. We’ve been renting, then we saw this come up. This was a lot cheaper,” said Claire.
“The day before lockdown we were meant to get our keys, but it was worth the wait. I can’t believe how big the house is. It’s lovely; it feels like a home already.”
Nearly 200 new-build homes have now been completed under the ‘m!ne’ Rent to Buy programme. They are part of a 700-home construction project by believe housing to meet demand for affordable housing in the north east.
Development Project Manager from believe housing, Rebecca Marshall, said: “It’s great to see families settling into their new homes now. These homes were created specifically to help people who had no other route onto the property ladder and they’re doing just that.
“There might have been a short delay during the height of the pandemic, but we got our construction back on track as soon as it was safe to. Now we’re back underway at all of our new-build sites, supporting local jobs and the economy as well as providing high-quality affordable housing.”
