Emily Welcomes £4bn For Affordable Housing

Emily Thornberry has welcomed the £3.9 billion announced by the Government this week to tackle the shortage of affordable housing.

Nearly half the money – £1.7 billion – will go to Islington and other London boroughs, and will boost the rate of affordable housing creation by a third over the next two years.

The increased funding will provide relief to the housing crisis by raising the supply of social rented housing, as well as using £970 million to help first-time buyers through Low Cost Home Ownership schemes.

The Government is also putting a greater emphasis on larger, family-sized homes, responding to concerns shared by people in Islington that many of the new homes built in recent years have been for single occupiers or couples.

Emily said:

“Islington’s housing crisis is one of the top concerns for many people in our area. The Lib Dem Council has failed to deliver the affordable housing that Islington so desperately needs. I am glad the Labour Government is tackling the crisis and I will work hard to make sure Islington gets its fair share of the funds available”.

The package also takes forward the Government’s sustainability agenda by allocating £50 million to the installation of microgeneration technologies like wind turbines on social housing.

Editors’ Notes:

The funding was announced by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on 23 March 2006.
The investment of £3.9bn for 2006-08 is up 15 per cent on the last two years, and the projected creation of new affordable homes up by 33 per cent, meaning 84,000 new affordable homes being built across England, 21,000 more than in 2004-2006.
49,000 of the new homes are for affordable rent and 35,000 are for Low Cost Home Ownership, which will be delivered by three new Homebuy options developed by the Government and the Housing Corporation. 
The shortfall in larger homes, particularly in London, has been addressed to meet the Government’s national target, ensuring that nearly 35% of new London homes will meet the needs of families.
Reflecting well-evidenced local needs, a total of 11,789 of the proposed new homes will be 3-bed or larger.