Securing homes

Securing homes

The global financial crisis saw private house building collapse, threatening people’s jobs and the homes families desperately need now. Building more homes has to be a vital part of our recovery. With the additional support provided during the recession, we will build 112,000 affordable homes and maintain or create 160,000 jobs across this year and next. We have also supported homeowners to stay in their homes. Because of our actions the current repossession rate is running at half that of the last recession, with the Council of Mortgage Lenders having to revise their original prediction on two occasions.

• The Prime Minister’s Housing Pledge, announced in June, provided another £1.5bn, on top of
the existing £6bn already allocated to build new affordable homes. This additional investment
will provide another 20,000 affordable homes. This means in total Labour will build 112,000 new
energy efficient affordable homes, this year and next.

• This package has maintained or created 160,000 jobs across this year and the next. As a
condition of receiving public money developers, public and private must provide apprenticeships,
keeping young people in work and training now and building the skills we’ll need in the future.
This year and next we will create around 3,000 extra apprenticeships.

• £840m of the Housing Pledge money will be invested in housing associations to build new
affordable housing. In addition to this, the government has given £1.7bn PFI funding to
regenerate ten of the most deprived areas in England.

• We believe in council housing and want to see more of it. As well as investing £260m of
government money in new council housing, Labour is dismantling the central funding system
that means councils will keep all their rent and sales income.

• Labour has given the green-light to the first wave for four eco-towns, with ten local authorities or
partnerships in total interested.