Housing and the Credit Crunch

HC 101, Third Report of Session 2008-09 - Report, Together with Formal Minutes, Oral and Written Evidence

Author:

House of Commons - Communities and Local Government Committee

Publisher:

TSO (The Stationery Office)

In this report, 'Housing and the Credit Crunch (HC 101)', the Communities and Local Government Committee says that the Government must stick to its long term house-building targets, despite the credit crunch, but a greater proportion of the homes built should be social housing.

The Government has promised a £975 million investment in social rented housing, which the Committee welcomes. However, these funds have been borrowed by the Government from its 2010-11 budgets: it is not additional money. The Committee is concerned that the Government has been unable to say how that borrowing will be replaced.

The Committee urges the Department for Communities and Local Government to:

• put pressure on the Treasury to ensure measures to revive the mortgage markets are implemented immediately;

• increase construction of new social housing, both to provide for housing need and as a means of maintaining capacity in the homebuilding industry whilst the market recovers;

• accelerate refurbishment programmes for social housing;

• acquire further social housing through the purchase of unsold stock and street properties;

• consider the purchase of unsold family homes that have been on the market for more than a year; and

• encourage public sector bodies to make land available for the development of new homes.

The report also urges the Government to do more to help those at risk of repossession by considering sanctions against lenders who repossess too quickly and by doing more to protect tenants and homeowners from unscrupulous landlords.

An Office of Fair Trading recommendation for sale-and-rent-back schemes should be implemented as a matter of urgency to protect the growing number of households falling behind in mortgage payments.

The Committee would like to see more done to support housing associations, including increasing social housing grant where necessary.

Extent	268 pages	ISBN	9780215526526
Size	A4	Price	£24.50
Binding	Paperback	Published	24 Feb 2009
Availability	Colour copy: 3 - 5 days	Delivery	Delivery options and charges

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