As part of the Government's Building Britain's Future plans, Housing Minister John Healey said that construction of thousands of extra homes will begin in a matter of months, supported by a £1.5 billion pound housing investment.
The Housing Pledge places councils centre-stage, building more homes more quickly while creating thousands of jobs in the construction industry. Changes to the rules for allocating housing will also give councils a bigger role in meeting the needs of people in their area.
The Pledge also includes commitments to improve access to social housing by providing tenants and prospective tenants with more choice over the properties available, and commitments to clamp down on those cheating the system, so that more properties are available for those who play by the rules.
The £1.5 billion boost will deliver an additional 20,000 new affordable energy efficient homes over the next two years - and a further 10,000 homes delivered through the private sector.
Councils and housing associations will both have a key role in delivery of the new affordable homes. This money will also extend the programme to get stalled housing projects back on track and prepare public sector land for construction of new homes, as well as provide up to 45,000 new jobs in the construction and related industries.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown had hinted earlier in the month that new measures to provide more social housing would be announced. He said his Government was "prepared to take even more decisions" to increase the supply of social housing, on top of steps already in place to help people deal with the recession.
Those comments came after he was challenged during Prime Minister's question time on housing policy. This came from Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, who claimd that 1.8 million families were waiting to be housed and that just 20 new homes had been started since the Government announced a major building programme in January.
Nick Clegg called on Mr Brown to stop the Treasury "grabbing" money from council rents and sales and allow local authorities to build new homes. He said:
"Everyone who has been out on the campaign trail over the last few weeks knows how angry and frustrated people have become at the way that this Government always raises people's, hopes only to see them disappointed again and again.
"In no way is that truer than in housing, where we have had more announcements than new homes.
"Since January, when you announced the biggest council house building programme in decades, only 20 new homes have been started.
"So will you make a promise and actually deliver."
Mr Brown responded that there were one million more people in homes than in 1997 and that housing had been improved for a further million people. More than £29 billion had been invested in social housing, he said, which was set to reach £40 billion by 2010.
The Prime Minister told Mr Clegg - "I don't accept your figures" and went on to say:
"What has happened since January is that we have brought in place measures first of all to protect people in their own homes, so the expected rate of mortgage repossessions has not happened, and mortgage repossessions are roughly as they were a few months ago.
"Equally, at the same time we are bringing in a programme to invest more in social housing over the next few months and over the next few years.
"And I have to tell you - we are prepared to take even more decisions to make available more social housing over the next few months."
Such new measures would only be possible because the Government was prepared to invest during the recession, Mr Brown argued, calling on the Liberal Democrats to support the higher spending.
Mr Brown added: "We are not complacent, and that's why we are planning to invest more this year."
Gigures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats show that almost 30,000 social homes have been left empty for more than six months, despite the fact that there are over 1.77 million families now waiting for social housing.
Commenting on the figures, released following a Parliamentary Question, Liberal Dem Shadow Housing Minister Sarah Teather, said:
"Allowing thousands of social houses to sit empty when so many families have been waiting years for a home is nothing short of a scandal.
"The cost of bringing these homes back into use is just a fraction of the cost of new build yet the Government is sitting idly by while they fall into disrepair.
"With repossessions on the rise, we urgently need much more social housing. Reducing VAT on repairs is one big step the Government could take to cut the cost of bringing these houses back into use and provide thousands of families with a home."
Information provided by Communities and Local Government suggest that there are 327,857 long term empty properties in England (as of October 2008).
The Liberal Democrats propose reforms so as to cut VAT on repair works to make it cheaper to bring empty homes back into use. At present, 0% VAT is charged on new build while full VAT is charged on repair works.
In March 2009 European Finance Ministers voted to allow EU Member States to charged VAT at a reduced level for home maintenance and repair.
