Osborne under Pressure to Boost Housebuilding to Kickstart the Economy

George Osborne is under growing all-party pressure to boost housebuilding to kickstart the economy and create jobs after his March Budget was criticised as a missed opportunity to tackle the housing crisis.  The Chancellor is being urged to use his spending review in June to give the go-ahead to the building of up to 100,000 council and housing association homes to complement the help for home-buyers he announced in the Budget. Critics say he needs to increase the supply of homes as well as demand through the mortgage market. The pressure increased after new figures showed that 2m council houses and flats have been sold since Baroness Thatcher introduced her flagship “right to buy” policy in 1980 – the same number of people now on local authority waiting lists for housing.  Read more on the Independent website.