It is fantastic that the Government has accepted our long-standing call to scrap the housing borrowing cap. This demonstrates the Government’s willingness to make councils central to solving the national housing crisis. We would welcome clarity on when this will be implemented, and urge that this should be as soon as possible.
Key messages
- The national housing shortage is one of the most pressing issues we face. The last time this country built more than 250,000 homes a year, councils built more than 40 per cent of them. Only an increase in all types of housing will ensure we can deliver 300,000 homes a year.
- It is fantastic that the Government has accepted our long-standing call to scrap the housing borrowing cap. This demonstrates the Government’s willingness to make councils central to solving the national housing crisis. We would welcome clarity on when this will be implemented, and urge that this should be as soon as possible.
- Councils want to encourage home ownership, without a corresponding decline in the number of social rented homes. It is therefore essential that the Government enables councils to keep 100 per cent of receipts from Right to Buy (RTB) sales to invest in new housing.
- The social housing green paper was a positive signal of the Government’s intent to provide more social homes. We were particularly pleased to see that the Government has listened to our concerns and dropped plans to force the sale of council homes.
- A proactive, well-resourced planning system is vital to building homes. Councils are working hard to approve nine out of ten planning permissions. However, planning departments are severely under-resourced. Taxpayers are subsidising the costs of applications by around £200 million a year.
- Ahead of the Chancellor’s 2018 Budget, we are calling on the Government to work with councils to tackle the housing crisis. We look forward to seeing the detail of the removal of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) borrowing cap, so that all councils can borrow to build homes.
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Debate on housing and home ownership, Westminster Hall, House of Commons, 16 October 2018