British Government urged to expand house fund to £2bn

Posted under General by Michael

The Home Builders Federation (HBF) has urged the Government to increase its clearing house fund set up for buying homes from private sector for social housing.

The clear house fund was mooted by the Government in its spring budget as a measure to prevent housing market collapse.

HBF has proposed expanding of initial allocation of £200m to £2bn, so that most of the 15,000 completed homes lying unsold could be bought for council housing.

According to data from the Department for Communities and Local Government, 1,531 homes had been purchased through the clearing house fund so far. However, only 4 local authorities out of 20 benefited from the fund for council housing.

This fund has been financed from budget of the New Homes and Communities Agency, which has been allotted £8.4bn to be spent over 3 years. Major part of this Agency budget is earmarked for housing projects agreed between local authorities and private developers. But the fact is most of these projects have not been even started due to downturn in housing industry.

Executive chairman of HBF, Stewart Baseley wants part of this £2bn budget to be spent on purchase of unsold properties which could provide homes to those waiting for council housing, and give boost to the housing market.

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