Looking at the situation with Housing generally, this account recently published I believe, is forecasting doom and gloom for many years to come?
More than half a million affordable homes could be axed from the Government's building plans if earmarked public spending cuts are implemented, a campaign group warned today.
The National Housing Federation said figures set out in the Pre-Budget Report imply spending cuts to the housing budget of 17.98%, which if implemented over the next decade, would slash the planned number of new affordable homes by 556,000. The Federation also warned cuts of 17.98% over the next 10 years would also lead to 278,000 jobs and apprenticeships in the construction industry, and the wider economy, either being lost or not created.
Given the dire consequences big cuts in spending would have on house building numbers, and job losses, housing should be viewed in the same ‘untouchable' terms as health, education and policing by all the political parties, and be protected from cuts, the Federation said.
In July 2007, in an attempt to tackle Britain's chronic housing shortage, the Government pledged to build 3m homes by 2020, a million of which would be affordable.
It is expected that 162,000 of the targeted affordable homes will have been built by April 2011. However, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, figures in the Pre-Budget Report imply the Government will have to cut budgets from all departments by an average of 17.98% in real terms - in order to slash the nation's budget deficit while protecting spending on health, policing and schools.
If cuts of this order were implemented to the housing budget up to 2020 it would mean that only 444,000 of the targeted 1m affordable homes would be built - leaving a shortfall of 556,000. Under cuts of 17.98%, the affordable house building sector would suffer a devastating double blow through the budget cuts themselves, and the loss of billions of pounds of worth of extra public investment over the coming decade that was anticipated by the Government when it set out its 2020 housing targets.
If the reduced rate of building, that would occur under cuts of 17.98%, was continued into the long term, it would take the Government until 2038 to build the envisaged 1m affordable homes - 18 years later than expected. Waiting lists for affordable housing currently stand at record levels of 4.5m people and demand has been further fuelled by the recession, rising unemployment and repossessions. The Federation believes that if the number of new affordable homes is slashed by 556,000, a further 1.25m people would be added to waiting lists and plunge the country into an even deeper housing crisis.
The failure to build the extra 556,000 would lead to 278,000 jobs and apprenticeship opportunities being missed on construction sites, factories, timber yards, and in the wider economy, due to the way in which money invested in house building ripples through to other sectors. The Federation warned that the poorest communities would be hardest hit by the proposed cuts to housing, as bad housing conditions are closely linked with poor health, poor educational attainment and higher crime rates.
Under the Government's targets, around 280,000 homes should be built over the next three government spending periods. "A swingeing cut of 17.98% to the budget for new affordable homes would deepen the national housing crisis and lead to the loss of thousands of jobs and apprenticeships. "Reducing the number of new homes by such a huge degree would kill off the dreams of more than a million people in desperate need of decent, affordable housing - leaving many to live in cramped, unsuitable conditions for a generation.
"Axing the new homes budget would also increase unemployment and obliterate the national programme for creating apprenticeships - as housing is one of the nation's key generators of jobs and prosperity."
"Bad housing is closely linked to poor health, poor educational attainment and higher crime rates, ministers should give funding for the house building programme the same untouchable status as health, education and policing - and protect it from the coming savage cuts."
I believe that everyone working in Housing construction and, those of us who are not working at all should give this a great deal of consideration when deciding who to vote for at this coming election.
Imtiaz Farookhi, chief executive of the NHBC advises.
"The first quarter of 2010 will be a key time for the house building industry and it is vital that it is high on the agendas of all parties in the run-up to, and post, the election. This is the only way to ensure that the complex challenges of supply, sustainability, quality and consumer interest can be met in the years to come."
NHBC rolling quarter statistics show that all regions are reporting higher levels of registrations for September to November 2009 than the same period in 2008, and that the majority have also improved on rolling quarter August to October 2009.
In particular the Midlands showed continued improvement with 1,912 registrations in the West Midlands during the period September to November 2009, and 1,976 in the East Midlands (compared to 1,367 and 1,896 respectively for the rolling quarter August to October 2009.)
NHBC statistics for the three months to the end of November 2009 also show:
Question - What are those spin doctors at the HCA advising?
Shared ownership for Armed Forces - Under the pilot scheme, the Government will provide members of the Armed Forces with up to 50 per cent of a property's value.
The £20m pilot will initially run until spring 2013 and will be funded by the Ministry of Defence and managed and delivered by the Homes and Communities Agency.
Or - House prices continued to rise in November and are now 8.5% above their trough in April, according to the Halifax. The Council of Mortgage Lenders figures indicate that mortgage lending has risen by 43% over the past year, although it remains about half its pre credit crisis levels.
Or even - The appetite for council house building is stronger than ever, according to the HCA, which has confirmed that 73 local councils in England will have access to over £230m of funding under Round 2 of its Local Authority New Build Programme.The funding, made up of £122.6m grant from the HCA and matched by a similar figure of borrowing by the local authorities, will see over 1,900 new council homes built, many of which will be larger family-sized homes.The 1,900 new homes will be built on 164 different sites, many of which are disused such as former garages, helping to remove the blight of dereliction from communities.
Where are you ‘Two-Jags' your country needs you!