11 June 2010 - Weak national housing policy will hit the poorest hardest, warns Keith Taylor MEP

Affordable homes and new social housing will be worst hit by the Government’s cuts to housing budgets and the scrapping of regional targets, the South East’s Green MEP said today.

As part of the package of public spending cuts pledged by the Government, £230 million has been cut from the budget of the Homes and Communities Agency, including £100 million from the national affordable housing programme, £50 million from regeneration scheme Kickstart and £50 million from the housing market renewal programme.

The Government is also scrapping regional targets for the building of thousands of new homes across the country. Keith tentatively welcomed this move, as it reduces the risk of unsustainable development on green field sites, but warned that, combined with the funding cuts, housing policy now appears dangerously weak.

The new Green MEP for the South East region, Keith Taylor, who has replaced Caroline Lucas in the European Parliament, said:

“Britain has a shortage of affordable and good quality housing to buy or rent, and a severe lack of social housing. This is at a time of recession, when many home-owners are in danger of losing their properties, and homelessness is still affecting thousands of people.

“The package of swingeing cuts in funding sends out very worrying signals for what might appear in the Emergency Budget. What’s more, it’s telling that the Housing Minister is no longer allowed to attend Cabinet; this signifies a massive shift in power, and puts housing back down the ladder in terms of influence and importance.”

Keith continued: “The scrapping of regional targets is not necessarily a bad thing on its own – but what is damaging is the scrapping of targets along with a reduction in funding for affordable housing in the middle of a recession. This is the situation we now face. It means that local government has no incentive to building affordable housing.

“Our deeply unfair local government funding system means that councils must have funding from central government to be able to build significant amounts of social housing. To take this away at the same time as taking away regional planning is to ensure that social housing building rates will fall.

“Local politicians need to be given the power to make decisions on housing, but they need significant funding from central government – or a fair system of local funding, neither of which the coalition is putting on the table.

“The Greens want to make it easier – not harder – for people to get on the property ladder. We want to protect home-owners and to eradicate homelessness for good by:

* Building a new generation of quality council homes

* Supporting the development of housing co-ops

* Bringing back into use Britain’s 300,000 long-term empty private sector homes

* Renovating Britain’s 37,000 empty council homes to help cut waiting lists

* Giving social housing tenants greater control over the management of their homes and neighbourhoods

* Improving the quality of housing stock to help reduce household bills (insulation and efficiency measures)

* Helping people at risk of repossession keep their homes via a Right to Rent scheme.

Keith concluded: “Only through measures like these can we achieve a fair housing deal for all.”

ENDS