By Neil Merrick
A government scheme for buying unwanted homes from developers should be extended to older properties that owners are struggling to sell on the open market, MPs said this week.
A government scheme for buying unwanted homes from developers should be extended to older properties that owners are struggling to sell on the open market, MPs said this week.The communities and local government select committee praised ministers for giving housing associations at least £200m to buy new homes from private builders.
But it said further money should be set aside to buy ‘a limited number’ of family-sized homes that have been on sale for more than a year.
In addition to providing homes for social renting, the refurbishment of older properties would give a much-needed boost to the construction industry, the committee said in its report Housing and the credit crunch, published on February 24.
In a bleak assessment of the housing market, the MPs said it was ‘unlikely’ that ministers would meet house building targets – including 3 million new homes by 2020 – set out nearly two years ago.
While the Homes and Communities Agency had increased rates of grant for some development schemes, there was a limit to what it could do within its present budget.
‘Without an increase in social housing grant, many new affordable homes will not be delivered,’ said the report.
The DCLG has brought forward £975m from 2010/11 to fund extra social rented housing. But the committee noted that this is not new money and ministers have not said how it will be replaced.
The report appeared 24 hours after a coalition of groups, including local authorities and housing associations, called on the government to ensure that 100,000 homes are built for social renting over the next two years.
Under current projections, the number of social rented homes built annually is not due to reach 45,000 until 2010/11.
Margaret Eaton, chair of the Local Government Association, said: ‘Social housing has to be a top priority because the harsh reality is that fewer people are getting on to the housing ladder.’
MPs called for the six low-cost home ownership schemes, including Rent-to-HomeBuy, to be simplified and cut to three. Lenders who repossess homes should be monitored closely and sanctions issued against those ignoring guidelines, they added.
