Government package boosts affordable housing

The Government has decided that it will make available immediately some £400 million in grant aid to allow both social landlords and local councils to provide affordable housing.

This initiative, which involves bringing forward committed expenditure, is part of a £1bn package of measures announced by ministers in response to the credit crunch and worsening conditions in the housing market.

The funding is expected to deliver up to 5,500 new social homes over the next 18 months, over and above existing assumed levels of activity.

The Government has also signalled that it plans to work with Regional Development Agencies and the soon-to-be-established Homes and Communities Agency to provide more financial help for key housing regeneration schemes in deprived areas which are currently slowing down or stalling.

Ministers have made it clear that it will only intervene on projects that will deliver "significant regeneration benefits".

In a statement Communities and Local Government stressed that it would be focusing "on those schemes that are critical to the wider regeneration of an area, with significant multiplier effects, where delivery is time critical, and where there is a demand for the finished product".

Housing and planning minister Caroline Flint said the measures would support families facing difficulties "whilst ensuring we maintain our focus on delivering more affordable homes over the long term".

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said: "By bringing forward our investment in social housing, we are both getting more decent, affordable housing ready for people to live in sooner, and helping the house building industry weather tough times."

Read the Communities and Local Government news release.

Roger Milne

4th September 2008