MP, Labour's Shadow
Secretary of State for Housing, responding to
comments made on housing in the Chancellor's interview with the
Sunday Times, said:
"After seven years in Government, it’s clear the
Conservatives have no plan to fix the housing crisis and still
can’t see that their policy failures are making the crisis
worse.
"More big targets, small changes in funding and
yet another review into the housing market fall far short
of what is needed.
"The hard truth is that housebuilding is still below the
level it was before the global financial crisis
and affordable housebuilding has fallen off a cliff, with
the lowest number of new social rented homes built last
year since records began.
"Rather than more small-scale tinkering, the Chancellor
should back Labour's long-term plan to invest to build the
homes we need, help first-time buyers and give private renters
the protections they need."
Notes to Editors
· On
housebuilding, the Chancellor is reported to have committed to
build 300,000 new homes a year. However, statistics
released just this week revealed that housebuilding still has
not even recovered to pre-crisis levels, a decade on. Official
estimates of housebuilding released by the government suggest
that only between 148,000 and 184,000 homes were built last
year: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/593940/LiveTable213.xlsx; https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/659546/Live_Table_120.xls
· Meanwhile
affordable housebuilding has fallen dramatically since 2010,
even on the government's radically altered definition of
'affordable' which includes homes for sale at £450,000 and
to rent at 80% of market rates. The number of new genuinely
affordable social rented homes (roughly half the cost of
private rents) has fallen to the lowest level since records
began: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/657915/Live_Table_1000.xlsx
· On
funding, the Chancellor is said to commit 'billions of pounds'
in funding. Grant investment for affordable homes has been cut
from over £4bn a year in 2010 to less than £1bn last year,
a fall of more than three-quarters.
· Labour's
comprehensive plan to tackle the housing crisis is available
here: https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Housing-Mini-Manifesto.pdf
