Fri 20 Jun 2008
Government funding proposals meet mixed industry response
Government plans to free up £1 billion in public money to bail out the new homes market have met with a mixed response throughout the industry.The funds would be used to buy tens of thousands of inner-city flats at a discount from troubled housebuilders. Proposed by the National Housing Federation (NHF), the umbrella body for the UK’s housing associations, the funding package is currently under consideration by ministers.
As building work on new private sites in some areas of the country has frozen, thus affecting the construction of social housing, housing associations have extra grant funds from the Housing Corporation to invest in the private sector.
“This could be potentially brilliant for the industry,” says Which? property expert Kate Faulkner (pictured). “It would speed up the housing associations’ ability to reach their targets, and do so not at the expense of the new-build sector.
“But social housing has a bad reputation. People who already own property on developments who paid top whack for their homes will think that a bunch of hoodies will be moving in next door. This may cause a lot of local uproar – some buy-to-let landlords may be nervous of the effect this will have on the values of their property.”
“The HBF has for a while been in discussion with government about reallocating Housing Corporation money in the light of the changing housing market and the reduction in provision of social housing through Section 106 agreements,” added HBF director of external affairs John Slaughter. “While we welcomed that, it was not enough and would support further funding of this kind subject to detail.”
David Orr, chief executive of the NHF, is set to meet housing minister Caroline Flint to discuss the funding proposal next week.
Posted by Marc Da-Silva
in Caroline Flint, David Orr, John Slaughter, Kate Faulkner, National Housing Federation, News on Fri 20 Jun 2008
Have your say and comment on this article