Operation: Key Worker, straight from British Intelligence
In London, England a Key Worker program is helping public service workers buy their first home, finance growing household needs for existing homeowners, facilitate shared ownership, and provide housing for rent at affordable prices.
Key workers include nurses and other healthcare staff, teachers in schools and in post-secondary education, police officers and some civilian staff in police forces, prison and probation service staff, social workers, education psychologists, planners and occupational therapists employed by municipalities, and full-time junior fire officers and firefighters in some fire and rescue services.
These essential workers are also being prioritized on affordable housing waiting lists where needed, and 6,000 new rent-capped homes will be built by 2030.
Specific programs include:
- equity (“homebuy”) loans of up to £50,000 to buy a home,
- equity loans up to £100,000 for workers identified with the potential to become leaders in their field,
- shared ownership of newly built properties, and
- intermediate rentals at subsidised prices.
But why help these groups?
The government recognized that these workers were essential to delivering the care and services others rely on. And that the high cost of housing in the London area was causing unmanageable commute times, recruitment and retention challenges, absenteeism, worker fatigue, and mental health concerns, among other issues, and they were beginning to leave in large numbers for smaller, more affordable communities.
It simply wasn’t sustainable. So they opted to intervene and create a program that helps them get into stable housing, and stay long-term, with all of the benefits this creates for the local residents, communities, and economies that they support.
Now that’s British Intelligence.
