Labour claims no starter homes have been built in three years

November 22, 2017 / Isla MacFarlane
Labour claims no starter homes have been built in three years

Ahead of the Budget tomorrow, Labour has revealed that no new ‘starter homes’ have been built in three years, despite the Conservatives’ promise to build 200,000 of them.

‘Starter homes’ are a flagship Conservative commitment to first-time buyers, first announced in December 2014. In the Conservatives’ 2015 manifesto, they promised to build 200,000 starter homes but none have so far been built, an analysis by Labour claims.

In addition to the lack of progress on building starter homes, the analysis signals that the number of new low-cost homes to buy has halved since 2010. There are now 58,000 fewer affordable homes for first-time buyers than if building levels had continued at the level left by Labour.

Labour is challenging the Chancellor to use tomorrow’s Budget to reverse this abysmal record on housebuilding and to ensure that promised homes are actually built.

John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, said, “If hot air built homes, Conservative Ministers would have fixed our housing crisis. Three years after they pledged a big new programme of ‘starter homes’ for first-time buyers, not a single one has been built.

“Meanwhile, the number of homeowners under 45 has fallen by 904,000 since 2010 and the number of low-cost homes to buy has halved.

“The Chancellor must use the Budget to reverse this abysmal record and ensure that the homes they pledge are actually built. No more broken promises.

“The next Labour government will build 100,000 genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy a year, and help first-time buyers with first-dibs on new homes for local people, a new generation of discounted FirstBuy Homes, and a cut in stamp duty on their first home.”

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