02 November 2007
Legislation to enable councils to build new homes could be included in next week's Queen's Speech, housing minister Yvette Cooper has said.
Cooper told the communities and local government select committee on October 29: 'We do now think that we need a few legislative changes to make it easier for councils to bid for Housing Corporation grant in order to be able to build homes.'
In its housing green paper, published in July, the government conceded that councils should be able to build new houses. But under present regulations this is difficult and rarely economically viable. When a council builds directly, a proportion of rents and profits are claimed back and recycled nationally through the housing revenue account subsidy system.
Pressed by MPs on whether the government would scrap the housing revenue account completely, the minister said she was no fan of the scheme but added that replacing it was problematic.
'I think it would be great if we could find a way to dismantle it over the longer term but we have to be honest about some of the practical difficulties that we face,' she said.
PFnov2007
