The Prime Minister’s announcement for social and affordable housing, outlined yesterday in the government’s Building Britain’s Future, confirms the expectation that the government will miss its own target from the 2007 Housing Green Paper, according to the Construction Products Association.
In 2007 the government announced that it would provide at least 70,000 affordable homes a year by 2010/11 of which 45,000 would be social rentable, but this latest announcement states that only 56,450 affordable homes will be delivered, missing the target by more than 13,500.
Responding to the announcement, Michael Ankers, Chief Executive at the Construction Products Association said; ‘We have been saying for some time that the government would miss its affordable housing targets, so this latest announcement should come as no surprise. However, it is difficult to understand why they need additional money to deliver fewer houses. The last Comprehensive Spending Review allocated the necessary funds to deliver the government’s programme to the end of 2010/11, so why do they now need to divert money from other capital programmes to deliver a lower target that should be costing less? It sounds very much like the government is promising less for more.
‘If for some reason the funds they require for this housing are being reallocated from elsewhere, then they need to explain which other capital projects will not now go ahead. The sooner this is clarified the better.
‘On a brighter note the announcement that additional new private homes will be built as part of the Kickstart initiative is to be welcomed as this will limit the number of jobs lost across the industry as the economic downturn continues to bite.’