| answer text |
<p>This Government is committed to increasing housing supply and home ownership. We
have already made progress - housing completions in the quarter to March 2015 are
up 21% on the same quarter in the previous year; starts on new homes in the year to
March 2015 totalled 140,500, the highest annual total since 2007; and planning permissions
were granted for 261,000 homes in the year to March 2015 – but there is more to be
done.<br><br>This year we will introduce a Housing Bill to unlock brownfield land
to build new homes; provide the framework to deliver starter homes and extend Right
to Buy to housing association tenants.<br><br>We will help builders to build: Public
sector land has already been released to deliver over 109,000 new homes and over 100,000
homes have been supported through the £1.3 billion Large Sites programme. Over this
Parliament we have ambitions to release public sector land for 150,000 homes; kick-start
development in 20 Housing Zones outside London, which with 8 other shortlisted sites
has the potential to deliver up to 45,000 new homes; create a £1 billion Brownfield
Fund; and provide capacity funding to support the development of new garden settlements.
We will support small and medium sized enterprises through the Builders’ Finance Fund
(2015-17) and the £100 million Housing Growth Partnership with Lloyds Bank. We want
to double the number of custom and self-built homes through ‘Right to Build’ and a
£150 million fund for serviced plots.<br><br>Nearly 2 million households have been
helped to realise aspirations to own their homes through Government-backed schemes.
This Government will build 200,000 Starter Homes exclusively for first-time buyers
under 40 years old, at a minimum of 20 per cent below open market value; extend Help
to Buy Mortgages to 2020; and introduce a Help to Buy ISA to help people save for
a deposit. Finally, we will give more people the chance to own their home by extending
Right to Buy discounts to tenants of housing associations.</p>
|
|
