Brown gives cash to build more homes

Date article online: 17/07/2007

Councils and housing associations will be handed extra money to build more affordable housing under government plans to be unveiled this week.

Gordon Brown, in a comprehensive speech to Labour’s national policy forum, acknowledged the scale of Britain’s home shortage and called on councils to help meet his goal of building three million new homes by 2020 — announced in his mini-Queen’s speech last week.

And later this week, the Prime Minister’s plan to fund the building of more homes will be set out by Housing Minister Yvette Cooper.

Ms Cooper said councils should work in partnership with housing associations and private developers to create mixed communities. She said: "This is not about a return to the sort of 1950s set-up where you have the council estate on one side of town and the executive estate on the other.

"This is about developing mixed communities, and that means a lot more working in partnership with other organisations be they housing associations or developers."

Ms Cooper will say she wants local authorities to be given greater flexibility to invest in housing. She added: "We do think councils should be able to build council housing.

"We also think they should be able to work in partnership with housing associations and private-sector organisations."

And Ms Cooper criticised councils which block housing schemes.

Mr Brown’s plans to create more affordable housing have been given the backing of the charity Shelter.

Chief executive Adam Sampson said: "Whether or not it has to be council is neither here nor there. The key thing is that the Government quickly brings on as many social homes as it can create.

"But it’s also important that those homes are built in the right place and that we don’t go back to the council ghettos that we had in the past."

Ms Cooper also wants every new block of flats to include a mix of private, social and council homes.

She said there should be an end to the segregation of different kinds of properties with new mixed developments being built instead where passers-by can’t tell what kind of housing it is.