21 June 2010
Government cuts could add 350,000 people to housing waiting lists, social landlords are warning today.
The National Housing Federation also cautions that 200,000 construction industry jobs could go and £45bn will be lost to the economy, damaging the recovery.
The warning follows latest estimates from the Institute for Fiscal Studies on the cuts the government will have to make to reduce the deficit to the extent promised. It says spending in non-ring-fenced areas such as housing might have to be cut by up to a third (32.6%) over the next four financial years.
NHF modelling has shown that spending restraint on this scale up until April 2020 would take £9.6bn directly from housing budgets and a further £45bn from the wider economy.
Funding cuts could also stop 142,000 planned affordable homes being built in the next ten years, the NHF adds, putting huge pressure on waiting lists that are already at record levels.
NHF
chief executive David Orr said: ‘If we don’t safeguard the building of
affordable homes then hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people will be
needlessly added to waiting lists and more than 200,000 jobs could be lost or
not created.’
Meanwhile, a YouGov survey shows that 63% of adults with children living at
home fear housing costs will prevent their children staying in their community
when they leave home. The survey was commissioned by the Chartered Institute of
Housing.
