Housing Minister unveils new drive to deliver more affordable housing
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Housing Minister Yvette Cooper today unveiled new measures to deliver more affordable housing, by bringing empty homes back into use and giving more cash to communities who are building more homes.
The measures, which form part of the government's plans to deliver 3 mln more homes by 2020, include extra cash for communities doing most to support more homes in their area, as well as an end to the moratorium on housing numbers for local authorities who want to build more but have been prevented from doing so by outdated regional targets.
She said that under new planning guidance, old targets must not be regarded as a ceiling on the homes built in an area, and that local authorities should be supporting more homes.
'We want to give more support to communities and councils who are doing their bit to deliver the extra housing needed, including bringing more empty homes back into use,' Cooper said.
'We need to provide more homes for the first time buyers and families of this and future generations,' she added. 'Thats why we pledged 8 bln stg of investment for more affordable and social homes.'
Under the plans, areas where the number of homes is increasing by more than 0.75 pct a year of the total stock, councils could get an extra 1,100 stg from the government for every additional home, rising to 5,000 stg per home by 2010/11.
In addition, Cooper promised more cash for councils who are identifying good sites for more homes. Councils who have set out a five-year plan of good sites for homes, and have consulted with local communities on plans for 15 years into the future, will get more funding, she said.
She also announced that only councils with robust strategies for reducing the numbers of empty homes will have access to a 510 mln stg pot earmarked to support councils and communities who are working to deliver more homes. These strategies, which could stir some controversy, would be expected to include working with property owners to find solutions, incentives such as advice and grants and the use of empty dwelling management orders to compulsory purchase homes as a last resort.
An estimated 670,000 properties currently stand empty and nearly 300,000 in England are long-term vacant.
Earlier today, the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit, the independent body set up this year to advise ministers on new homes, said the government's recently announced plans to increase house-building targets to 240,000 new homes per year are insufficient to avoid a housing crisis.
The report estimates 270,000 new homes per year are needed to 'stabilise' the ratio of house prices to income, which otherwise could soar to up to 11 times average earnings, based on current building activity. Currently, the ratio is about seven times the average salary, a level that prices out many first-time buyers.