John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, responding to the Government’s announcement of new funding for housing, said:

“This is a drop in the ocean compared to what’s needed to deal with the housing crisis. Ministers are set to spend around £2 billion less this year on housing than under Labour. So an £18 million fund won’t come anywhere near compensating for previous short-sighted cuts.

“After six years of failure on housing under Conservative Ministers, the number of people who are homeless has doubled, the number of home-owners has fallen by 200,000, and in the last six years we built fewer homes than under any Prime Minister since the 1920s. The country deserves a proper plan for fixing the housing crisis, not more hot air.”