lslington leads the way to providing affordable housing for teachers and nurses (Islington Liberal Democrats)

Islington Liberal Democrats <Islington_ld@cix.co.uk>

lslington leads the way to providing affordable housing for teachers and nurses

January 25, 2001 12:00 AM

Islington is among the first councils in the south-east to set aside homes for key workers. By setting aside 30 homes, they hope to improve the recruitment of teachers and nurses. 13 teachers and 4 nurses have already taken up this offer. Cllr James Kempton, Chair of the Education Committee is pleased with the success of the scheme. He said; "We need to attract the best teachers we can for our schools and hospitals and providing affordable homes is a big incentive in a borough with such high property prices. There is of course a limit to what one authority can do. We desperately need a London-wide initiative to tackle the problem of recruiting teachers, nurses and other health workers who are vitally important to keep this city running." The next step is to find a way to offer key workers with families by raising their priority for larger properties in low-cost homes and shared ownership schemes.