John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning has released new analysis showing the Chancellor’s housing announcements are already starting to unravel.
· An ‘increase’ in housing investment that is still a cut
The Chancellor said that “I am doubling the housing budget”, but new analysis shows that it has almost halved compared to the investment plans that he inherited from Labour.
· ‘New’ homes that are not new
The Chancellor promised “400,000 affordable new homes”, but he’s double-counting 250,000 which have been previously committed.
· ‘Affordable’ homes that will not be affordable
The Chancellor promised that his investment would build homes that are “affordable” but so-called ‘starter homes’ could require first time buyer incomes of £100,000 a year, and new analysis from Shelter suggests that shared ownership properties could be unaffordable to more than half of all households across the country.
Commenting, John Healey said:
“The bluster of George Osborne’s statement masks the reality that his housing pledges are actually a huge cut in investment compared to the plans he inherited from Labour and that most of the so-called ‘new homes’ he has announced today have already been committed.
“After five years of failure from the Tories, with home-ownership having fallen each and every year since 2010 and house-building down to its lowest level since the 1920s during George Osborne’s time at the Treasury, we needed much better from the Chancellor.
“Labour will continue to press the government to build more homes that are genuinely affordable to young people and families on ordinary incomes, to rent and to buy
Ends
Editor’s notes:
· The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement and Spending Review speech can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chancellor-george-osbornes-spending-review-and-autumn-statement-2015-speech
· Labour’s investment programme from 2008/9 – 2010/11 committed £9.3bn in 2015/16 prices or £3.1bn a year on average. The Spending Review documents reveal that from 2016/17 – 2020/21 the Chancellor is committing £8.4bn in 2015/16 prices, or £1.7bn a year on average – equivalent to a 46% cut in investment. This analysis has been verified by the independent House of Commons Library. The investment figures for 2016/17 – 2020/21 are available on p. 49 of this document: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/479749/52229_Blue_Book_PU1865_Web_Accessible.pdf
· The Spending Review documentation confirms that the “400,000 affordable housing starts” includes “200,000 Starter Homes”, which were already announced by the Prime Minister in October. It furthermore concedes that the number includes “50,000 affordable homes from existing commitments”. See page 41: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/479749/52229_Blue_Book_PU1865_Web_Accessible.pdf
· Labour supports the principle of ‘starter homes’ but, along with a number of Conservative MPs, has raised concerns about whether they will be affordable: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/construction-property/article4617762.ece. New analysis from Shelter released ahead of the Spending Review reveals that shared ownership will still be unaffordable to many families: http://blog.shelter.org.uk/2015/11/shared-ownership-who-does-it-work-for/.
· John Healey has set up a review into the decline of home ownership, chaired by the Chief Executive of Taylor Wimpey, Pete Redfern, which will report in summer 2016.