The housing and construction industries have continued to give a cautious welcome to the Government's latest housebuilding plans.
This Communities Secretary Greg Clark launched a £26 million fund for housebuilders to demonstrate a range of high quality homes that will be available for first-time buyers.The fund will support architects, developers, councils, housing associations and small builders to build properties that will increase the quality of design as the government delivers on its pledge to build 200,000 starter homes by 2020.
It will be used to acquire brownfield sites to provide land for starter homes. Money from the sales of these sites will go back to the government – securing good value for the taxpayer. In a further move to support aspiring homeowners the government has also today made available up to £10 million for local authorities to prepare more brownfield land for development of starter homes.
RIBA President Stephen Hodder said: “The RIBA welcomes this first step towards increasing the availability of new homes for first-time buyers.
“The Government must work with architects, developers and local communities to ensure that these new homes meet high standards of design and remain affordable.
“It’s vital that a desire to sell at below market rate doesn’t lead to small, poor quality homes in areas without sufficient infrastructure, that’s why we believe it’s imperative that the new national space standard - which come into effect in October - is applied to all new-build homes.”
Kathleen Kelly, assistant director of policy and research at the National Housing Federation said: “We welcome Greg Clark’s announcement today that will help more people achieve their aspiration of home ownership.
“Housing associations are poised to work in partnership with government to end the housing crisis, build high quality well designed homes and give more people a leg up onto the housing ladder. It is great news that more land will be brought forward to make way for these new homes.
“This is a step in the right direction to help housing associations achieve their long-term ambitions to build 120,000 homes every year.”
