John
Healey, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, responding to Theresa May’s
announcement that the Conservatives will build more affordable homes, said:
“This is political spin, with no substance. There’s no commitment
on the number of new affordable homes or on new funding.
“Under Theresa May and the Tories we’ve seen seven years of
failure on housing, with the level of new affordable housebuilding now at a
24-year low.
“The number of government funded social rented homes being
built has fallen to fewer than 1,000 last year from almost 40,000 under Labour
in 2009-10.
“Theresa May has been at every cabinet since 2010 and can’t
sidestep her share of the blame for the Tory housing crisis. The number of
home-owners has fallen by 200,000, homelessness has more than doubled and new
affordable housebuilding is at a near-record low.
"After seven years of failure, the Conservatives have no plan
to fix the housing crisis. A Labour government will back first-time buyers and
build the homes we need, including 100,000 genuinely affordable homes to rent
and buy a year by the end of the next Parliament.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
·
Affordable housebuilding has fallen to a 24 year low: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/595369/Live_Table_1000.xlsx
·
The number of government funded social rented homes started each
year has fallen from almost 40,000 to fewer than 1,000: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/572767/Live_Table_1012.xlsx
·
Home-ownership has fallen by 200,000 since 2010 after rising by a
million under Labour: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/595786/2015-16_Section_1_Households_Annex_Tables.xlsx
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