European Investment Bank cash could be spent on building affordable housing units

A £225m loan from Europe to help fund construction of the 2012 Olympic village was approved last week.

The European Investment Bank money would be spent on building 1,300 of the 3,000 housing units that will become affordable housing after the Games.

But on Friday the Olympic Delivery Authority said it had not yet decided whether or not to accept the offer.

Organisers’ hopes that the £1bn of funding needed to build the village would come from the private sector have been dashed by the recession and a collapse in property values.

In January, the government signed off £366m from the Olympic contingency fund to rescue the village and the stalled media centre.

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