Housing White Paper : Welcome but we need more
Tuesday 7th of February 2017
Tpas chief executive, Jenny Osbourne shares her thoughts on todays release of the Housing White Paper.
Finally today we saw the long-awaited Housing White Paper published by Government.
Tpas welcome its publication and the opportunity to comment.
Tpas members know only too clearly that we urgently need more homes built in England across all tenures. We welcome the commitment to this in the paper and urge Government to ensure these commitments become a reality quickly for individuals and communities in real need of more affordable homes. Tpas have been concerned at the messages from Government over the past few years that home ownership is the only solution to the housing crisis we face. Our members know it is not and that we need rents at levels that all parts of society can realistically afford. We know that social housing is an affordable and valued tenure for many in our society and would ask Government to pledge more support for this in order to achieve its ambitions to dramatically increase supply.
It is important to see actions to speed up delivery of new homes and pleasing to see a focus for a wider range of organisations to contribute to the solution for building more homes. Local authorities are a key part of that mix and we are encouraged to see support for them to build. Greater local say on what an area needs and what will actually work is also to be welcomed.
Tpas will be examining the detail behind the announcement over the coming weeks and welcome comments from our members.
More news on Housing White Paper