The government cut its affordable housing targets earlier this week as the slump in construction made previous targets too ambitious.
Deborah Hyde, CityWire.co.uk – 02 July 2009
The government said an additional £1.5 billion would be spent over the next two years to deliver 20,000 new homes, part of the total of 110,000 affordable homes now being promised over the next two years.
Gordon Brown being Gordon Brown didn’t say that this was lower than the previous target to build 70,000 affordable homes per year by 2010.
‘You couldn’t make it up. We all knew that Building Britain’s Future contained a string of re-announced targets, but this is something else – to announce a lower target after you have failed and pretend its progress. It’s surreal. This is a real slap in the face to the 3 million people in desperate housing need on our council house waiting lists,’ said Lord Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrats’ Treasury spokesman.
But that is only half of the problem.
Anyone looking at house price to income ratios knows house prices are still not ‘affordable’.
Where once it was supposed to be optimal to spend no more than a fifth of your salary on your rent or mortgage, people buying a house this week are still stretching their budgets to snapping point to buy a pitiful, badly thrown up, badly laid out walk-in wardrobe on the wrong side of town.
More importantly for the millions of people across Britain living in substandard housing, affordable housing targets are no answer.
Construction groups have been winning licenses to build on the basis that they offer so-called affordable housing that few can actually afford and is often been bought by professional landlords.
