Housing Investment – Parliamentary Written Answer

Lisa Nandy MP: To ask the Secretary of State pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Eltham of 27 May 2010, what was the evidential basis for the statement on the number of houses (a) a local authority and (b) a registered social landlord can construct for a given amount of money?
Grant Shapps MP: So long as council housing is in the public sector it will usually be more cost-effective for central Government to fund new social housing supply through the housing association sector. Housing associations are independent private bodies and can lever in private finance to help fund development reducing the overall cost to the tax payer. This means that Government can assist more households for any given level of public investment.