*Too Few Homes - The population is rising. It is true that migration contributes around
40 per cent of this population growth. That’s one of the reasons why this
Government is committed to cutting the numbers of migrants from hundreds of
thousands to tens of thousands per year.
However the main reason for the growth is that we are, thankfully,
living longer. If the housing market
were functioning properly then you would expect it to respond to this rising
demand and deliver the homes needed. But the truth is the housing market is
highly volatile, while often failing to deliver the homes where people need
them. This has driven prices up and priced many first-time buyers out of the
market.
*Kick-Starting the Market - To kick-start the market, we have
helped create a new and innovative scheme. Called NewBuy, it enables homebuyers
to secure mortgages with at least 5 per cent deposit on new-build houses and
flats. Alongside this we are helping
young first-time buyers by providing a further £280m for the FirstBuy equity
loan scheme. There are also many
publicly-owned sites which have yet to be unlocked for new housing and development.
Some 40 per cent of previously used land, suitable for development, is in
Government hands with local or national government.
*Helping Tenants - The next challenge is how we can reform
social housing to help those on lower incomes.
I am determined that we increase the total investment in this sector, by
levering in much more private investment, and by giving social landlords much
greater freedom over the type of tenancies they can offer. The current rigid rules often mean that the
social housing stock we have is underused, because of old rules that don’t work
today.
*Tackling Neighbours from Hell - We need to make it simpler
and easier to tackle this behaviour. That
means ensuring social landlords can act decisively and that those who break the
rules know that they will be evicted if they don’t mend their ways.
*Helping the Homeless - It’s true that the level of
homelessness is still roughly half what it was just a few years ago. Yet it’s
still wrong that tens of thousands of people will tonight be without a home,
often through no fault of their own. My predecessor has already acted to cut
the number of households in temporary accommodation. Homeless people often have many other
problems in their lives, involving family breakdown, drugs and so on which need
to be addressed in the round. The Home Secretary is taking the lead on this and
I want to be an active part of that approach, so we can deal with the causes of
homelessness.
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