A campaign is under way to give police community support officers the same rights as other officers when it comes to buying houses in Oxfordshire.

Senior personnel officers at Thames Valley Police are to lobby the Government to ask for PCSOs to be included in the key worker scheme.

PCSOs tackle low-level crime, disorder and antisocial behaviour, enabling police officers to focus on more serious crimes.

They also have a high profile and are intended to be the face of the police on the street.

At the moment, only health workers, police officers, teachers and social workers can apply to Keystart Housing Assoc- iation for equity loans of up to £50,000 or shared ownership schemes.

The scheme has been used to house more than 100 key workers in Oxfordshire -- 36 police officers, 32 health workers, 29 teachers and six other professionals.

Shared ownership involves a buyer paying a percentage of the mortgage for a property and a subsidised rent for the remainder.

The aim is to stop key workers being priced out of living in areas like Oxfordshire, where the average price of a house is £217,000. The national average is £161,900.

The Keystart scheme started in April 2004, and so far has helped 103 people in Oxfordshire get on the housing ladder.

Thames Valley Police has its own shared ownership scheme, launched in 2002, which is available to all force staff, and has so far helped 202 people.

Terri Teasdale, director of human resources for the force, wants PCSOs to be made eligible for Keystart housing too.

She said: "There have so far been 13 applications approved from police officers and we are trying to get PCSOs approved as an acceptable category too.

"We are making slow progress but I am sure we will get it. There is no justification for leaving them out."

Jacqeline Day, sales and marketing manager at Keystart, said: "Key Worker Living has already helped dozens of key workers in Oxfordshire, including police officers, nurses and teachers, find homes they can afford."

Pc Dino Imbimbo, of the Thames Valley Police Federation, said: "PCSOs are police staff so should be as entitled to Keystart housing as anyone else is."