Let's Get Building

In Wolverhampton, there are more than 12,000 people on the housing register. The sad truth is that many of those people will never be given a Council property as there are simply not enough to go round.

At Wolverhampton Homes, we let about 2000 homes each year but it doesn’t take a genius to work out that the people left over have to live somewhere. Where do they go?

Some are in private rented housing and would prefer the security of Council housing; others are staying with friends or family in cramped, overcrowded conditions and a tiny minority may be living in hostels or on the streets. In short, in temporary, insecure circumstances that can make it harder for children to achieve educationally and for adults to further their careers or contribute to their community. So that’s one problem Britain is facing.

The other problem is that we have a huge deficit to tackle and there is no way we can do it purely through austerity. We need growth – a big, bold move to stimulate the economy – and I believe building new homes is the answer to that.

The great thing about this is that to deliver thousands of new homes, the Government doesn’t have to spend a penny. They can allow councils to build 60,000 much needed new homes over the next five years at the stroke of a pen. All they need to do is increase the amount of debt councils can borrow against their housing stock.

The National Federation of ALMOs, in a report called ‘Let’s Get Building’, makes a compelling case for this move. It says that 92p out of every £1 spent on building stays in the UK and that 56p of this returns to the Exchequer - with 36p of that bringing direct savings in tax and benefits.

When America was in the grip of the Great Depression, they invested in capital projects like the Hoover Dam because they knew that building things was a golden opportunity to stimulate the economy. Let’s hope the Chancellor has the same foresight in Wednesday’s Autumn Statement and helps get Britain building.