Ministers will adopt a three-pronged strategy for dealing with Britain's housing problems, Tony Blair has said.
There will be more help for first time buyers, and extra assistance for key workers who find their lower salaries make it impossible to buy a house in parts of the UK.
People will also be given more flexible ways of buying their own home, helping people "to acquire an equity stake in their house that they can build over time".
And action will be taken to increase the housing supply, although the prime minister was quick to insist that this would be done in a carefully controlled way.
Government Response: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
John Prescott, deputy prime minister, said:"Tackling the nation's chronic housing needs and giving people more choice is not just about them gaining a roof over their heads - it's about giving people a stronger financial future and ensuring greater social justice.
"We are offering the most comprehensive, fair and flexible policies ever to deliver sustainable homeownership. It means more first time buyers, more people in social housing and more key workers like nurses and teachers being able to get on the housing ladder."
Party Response: Conservative
Caroline Spelman, the shadow local government minister said: "Is this right-to-buy or isn’t it? Ministers themselves [are] confused about what it really amounts to … [Deputy Prime Minister John] Prescott said that people will be able buy 100 per cent of a property immediately, but failed to clarify whether they will own the land their house sits on. If the government does intend them to be freeholders, why won’t they be able to sell to whom they chose, rather than binding them into having to sell it back to the housing association? That hardly amounts to home ownership. If on the other hand they are leaseholders, and can only sell to one purchaser, the growth in the value of the property is likely to be limited."
Party Response: Liberal Democrats
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrats ODPM spokesperson, said: "By refusing to outbid the Conservatives on right-to-buy, the government has at least avoided sounding the death knell for social housing. The Tories fail to recognise that many housing associations are charities, and the taxpayer cost of subsidising buy-outs would be over £1 billion a year. Labour's Social Homebuy is almost a carbon copy of the Liberal Democrats' 'Right to Invest' proposed 18 months ago. It offers a ladder to home ownership, while protecting the long-term future of social housing.
"The strategy fails to provide the cheap land needed to tackle Britain's affordable housing crisis. It's time departments gave up more land for the security and health of families struggling in poor housing."
Stakeholder Response: Traditional Housing Bureau
Barry Holmes, executive director of the Traditional Housing Bureau, said: "Any plans should focus on providing high standards for all types of housing, irrespective of tenure type. However, building a sustainable world relies on building houses that will be perceived as valuable by their inhabitants.
"Modern methods of construction should focus on performance and standards and less on prescribing particular methods of construction over others.
"Perhaps it is time for a radical rethink of traditional ideas of social housing and to embrace new ways of delivering the agenda. This is the chance to embrace different types of tenure and for social housing providers to work with the private sector to deliver better value for consumers and providers alike."
Stakeholder Response: British Property Federation
Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: "The British Property Federation welcomes the government’s five-year housing plan that aims to assist first time buyers and tenants onto the housing market and the government’s overriding commitment to establish sustainable communities.
"While the BPF supports the promotion of affordable housing, as a trade association that represents the commercial property industry, we must stress the need to maintain focus on a holistic approach to the creation of sustainable communities that incorporates mixed use and commercial development which, in addition to housing, are vital ingredients for the creation of employment and local community growth.
"The deputy prime minister stated that the government wants more affordable homes in the South East as the region’s economy continues to grow. Vital to that economic growth will be provision for mixed use and employment space for future residents and a commitment from government to include infrastructure growth in its plans for housing development."
Stakeholder Response: CITB - ConstructionSkills
A CITB-ConstructionSkills spokesman said: "The ODPM five year housing plan creates further demand on the construction industry that is already suffering from a skills shortage. CITB-ConstructionSkills is aware of the skills need and is working hard with the industry to address this challenge. Sustainability is dependent on a long-term commitment to quality training and starter jobs - and the costs that go with it.
"According to CITB-ConstructionSkills' Skills Foresight Report, published in January 2004, the UK construction industry will need 433,490 new people to join between 2003 and 2007. That's 86,150 per year."
Stakeholder Response: Construction Products Association
Allan Wilén, economics director at the Construction Products Association, said: "The Association welcomes the publication of the ODPM’s Five year Plan, Sustainable Communities: Homes for All, which provides a strategic context for the government’s various housing initiatives. In particular, the plan serves to underline the urgent need for the Government to press on with the planning reforms identified in the Kate Barker Report and increase new housing supply if there is to be a long term improvement in affordability.
"The Deputy Prime Minister’s commitment to tackling the lack of affordable housing is clear and the proposed use of subsidised loans to help first time buyers climb on to the housing ladder may provide initial help to those offered them. On their own, however, their longer term impact will be to raise housing demand, push up house prices and increase the affordability problems for future house purchasers.
"Any such measures must be part of a wider housing strategy, including urgently needed reform of the planning system to free up the supply of housing land. It has been the inability of the planning system to provide sufficient development land to meet the growth in household numbers that has been the key factor behind the lack of affordable private sector housing.
"Against this background the government’s efforts to release redundant NHS sites is a welcome step. The re-use of these sites, whether for social housing or as a stepping-stone between rented accommodation and home-ownership, should raise overall housing supply.
!The Deputy Prime Ministers contest to build 1,000 new houses for £60,000 each by 2007 will hopefully provide a useful showcase for innovative construction products and for the skills and ingenuity of the wider construction industry. It may also help to dispel some of the myths surrounding rising house prices and construction costs.
"There has indeed been a sharp rise in the price of new house construction over the last ten years, led by a 68 per cent rise in labour costs between 1993 and 2003. The price of construction materials rose 27 per cent over the period, slightly less than RPI inflation. However, despite these cost increases, even in higher cost areas such as London, the average rebuild cost of a small terraced house is put at £60,000; suggesting that free from land costs, planning gain obligations etc the industry should be able to meet the Deputy Prime Minister’s price tag.
"Furthermore over the last decade, in response to rising demand and planning restricted supply, house prices have risen twice as fast as new construction costs. This gap underlines the need to address, as a priority, planning restrictions on the supply of housing land if there is to be a long term improvement in affordability."
