The Government is set to announce plans to intervene to unblock the stalled building of 50,000 homes next year. In a preview of next month’s autumn statement by the chancellor, Nick Clegg will outline the plans in a speech warning of a housing crisis according to reports by The Guardian.
Clegg will announce that the government has found a number of schemes ?? of between 4,000 and 9,500 homes ?? which have stalled and pledge to intervene directly, by providing funding in the form of loans which would be repaid when the homes were sold. It’s thought the Lib Dem leader will also detail the government’s plans for a competition to build new “garden cities and suburbs”, modelled on the more ambitious new towns such as Letchworth and Welwyn, built in the early 20th century, and Corby, Basildon and Milton Keynes, created after the second world war.
The Guardian report quotes a draft of Clegg’s speech saying: “Unless we take radical action we will see more and more small communities wither, our big cities will become every more congested as we continue to pile on top of each other and the lack of supply will push prices and rents so high that ?? unless you or your parents are very rich ?? for so many young people living in your dream home is going to be a pipe dream. There’s only one way out of this housing crisis: we have to build our way out.
It’s thought Clegg will go on to argue that the “politics of housebuilding is shifting” as parents are increasingly worried about how their children will get on to the housing ladder ?? potentially counterbalancing a long history of local opposition to new developments. (The average age at which people can now afford their first home has risen to 35).
This development follows a host of government announcements that have promised to “kickstart” the house building industry, including a major housing strategy announced a year ago with the promise that it would be “ambitious” and “deliver homes and strengthen the economy”; an independent review of the problems led by the chairman of 3i investment group, Sir Adrian Montague, which reported earlier this year; and an ongoing review of house building standards intended to cut red tape for builders.
