A HOUSING loan scheme has been launched to help primary school teachers buy homes in and around Oxford.

A £1.5m equity loan pot, set up by Oxford City Council and Catalyst Housing Ltd, aims to tackle the lack of key worker housing in the city by loaning teachers up to £75,000 to get them on the property ladder.

It is hoped it will encourage more teachers to take jobs in the city and stabilise high staff turnover.

City councillor Pat Kennedy said the process for teachers to apply for a loan was already in place.

She added: “We are targeting teachers who have been teaching for three or four years and are now taking on leader roles in a school and thinking about buying a house.

“The impact is greater with teachers in leadership roles because they are key to raising education standards for our children.

“We really want teachers to stay in the city and settle, rather than move elsewhere as it has a big effect on the schools.

“Sometimes you get three to four teachers leaving a school each year. There is a high turnover.”

Bayards Hill Primary School in Barton, Wood Farm Primary School, Orchard Meadow, Pegasus and Windale Primary in Blackbird Leys are taking part.

Other schools involved include Church Cowley St James, Cutteslowe Primary School, East Oxford Primary School and John Henry Newham Academy.

Larkrise Primary, St Francis CofE, St John Fisher Catholic School, Rose Hill Primary School, Mabel Pritchard and St Gregory the Great are also on the scheme.

The scheme provides an equity loan – interest-free for the first two years – which, when taken up in addition to a mortgage, could enable teachers to buy a home near to work.

Both the city council and Catalyst have put £750,000 each into the scheme and teachers are able to claim up to 40 per cent of a property’s value. The property can be any age or type, but must be bought in Oxford City, Kidlington, Yarnton, Wheatley, Horspath, Kennington, Botley, North and South Hinksey, Dean Court or Cumnor.

Year 6 teacher at Wood Farm Primary School, Hannah Barton, welcomed the scheme, having initially found it difficult to buy a home.

She added: “We managed to buy one quite recently but it’s very hard to find somewhere which is affordable. I think the scheme is really good.”

Housing expert Oxford University professor Danny Dorling said: “It will help, but ultimately somehow a few more homes need to be built around the edge of Oxford just to fit everyone in who is trying to get in or stay in. Otherwise they’ll have to offer loans to social workers next and so on and the prices just keep rising.”

This week the Oxford Mail revealed the city council was reviewing its affordable housing policy after concerns it is deterring developers from building key worker homes.