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The Great Housing Disaster |
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Written by Austin Mitchell
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20 March 2006 |
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How long can we continue to ignore the Great Housing Disaster? Pathetic low builds where we need huge output and lots more rented housing. Rising homelessness and waiting lists. Half the population unable to raise the deposit to get on the ladder. Far more overcrowding. All ignored by a Government intent on carrying on its war against councils to force them to give away their housing stock.
It’s getting late to launch the great housing drive Britain needs with huge new towns on the Thames estuary and round London. Time to set councils free to build and renovate. Time to build, build, build.
We can pay for it by more Government spending but if we allow councils to borrow and stop stealing from their Housing Revenue Accounts, councils can build too. We can even bring in the private sector, not by giving it council housing as now, but by building the new towns on PFI financing.
With consumer demand falling and house prices plateauing, only a massive housing drive can push the economy forward. Get on with it. |
