Housing Failure

The problems of providing a decent home for everyone have been well documented and I’m not going to rehearse then here today. I think Labour in government should have made this a priority earlier but a) there were a lot of other things on the list after 18 Tory years of neglect and b) the government did put in a massive boost to housing in the last few years – so much so, it was one of the main planks of opposition from Tories and Lib Dems.

After lots of complaints in opposition, the said coalition of Tories and Lib Dems made a razmataz announcement earlier this year of how they were going to do so much better.

 Ministers revealed that their original aspiration to deliver 150,000 new homes by 2015 will not only be met, but exceeded. Appetite for the Affordable Homes programme has surpassed expectations, with 146 providers sharing almost £1.8bn to build 80,000 homes under the programme – putting the Government on track to deliver up to 170,000 new homes by 2015, and safeguarding some 80,000 jobs in construction and related trades.

The government has also been busy trumpeting ‘right to buy’ (again) and generally making lots of noise.

Could it be they want to distract attention from a few facts?

Affordable housing starts April – September 2009 = 12,482

(Labour government)

Affordable housing starts April – September 2010 = 13,626

(Labour government – I believe Nick Clegg tried to claim credit for these even though they were agreed and funded before the General Election)

Affordable housing starts April – September 2011 = 454

Nope, it’s not a misprint.