£500m to kick-start stalled housing developments announced
The Government is to provide £500 million to unlock development on stalled housing schemes, the chancellor has announced.
Alistair Darling said the strength of the economy depends on meeting the long-term demand for housing.
The £500 million fund will kick-start building on housing projects, stalled because of the credit crunch, delivering thousands of new homes, he said.
The money will be used to leverage in private development finance through a combination of reducing upfront costs and equity, gap and infrastructure funding, the Budget reveals.
An unspecified proportion of the funding will also be used for affordable housing.
The fund includes a £100 million package to enable councils to build energy efficient homes This part of the investment is expected to deliver 10,000 homes, according to the Budget.
As part of a commitment to tackle the barriers to construction facing the housebuilding industry, the Government has also announced plans to push back the introduction of the community infrastructure levy until April 2010.