live. In addition, they also offered accommodation for key workers and those of retirement age and social rented accommodation. Other services they provided include supported housing which delivers extra care and support to vulnerable people and Rent 4 Less which is for working people, with prices at up to 80% of what might be paid in the private rental sector. Affinity Sutton also provided a number of routes that aim to make home ownership more accessible. Shared ownership, also called part buy part rent, is designed for those that cannot afford to buy a home with a mortgage outright. In 2010, in partnership with Santander, Affinity Sutton launched a 95% mortgage deal for customers looking to buy their home through shared ownership. Affinity Sutton also offer an Equity loan to help towards home ownership. To fund their social housing, Affinity Sutton developed a limited number of properties for open market sale – either in partnership with another developer or on their own account. Funding Affinity Sutton funded its activities through both private funding vehicles and Government grants. As a private, non-profit distributing housing association, it reinvests its surplus into building new homes and supporting the communities in which its residents live. It borrowed £250 million through a bond issue in 2008, which at the time was the largest own-name bond issue by a housing association, and the first AA-rated bond from the sector. A second £250 million bond was issued in 2012 at the then lowest interest rate in the sector (4.25% for 30 years). As the late-2000s financial crisis reduced the viability of property developments, Affinity Sutton wrote off £13 million from asset values in its balance sheet in 2009, which was the largest impairment booked by a housing association to that date. Unlike smaller associations, it was able to bear the loss without requiring additional public grant. Affinity Sutton won the second largest award of grant funding in the Homes and Communities Agency's 2011–15 programme, but as of 2013 is unlikely to deliver all the 3,000 homes promised, because of difficulties in getting higher "affordable rents" agreed with local authorities. Timeline The history of Affinity Sutton can be traced back to 1900 when Victorian entrepreneur, William Richard Sutton bestowed his fortune to a charitable trust in his will to provide ‘model dwellings and houses for occupation by the poor of London and other towns and populous places in