Six weeks before the Budget Housing Minister Grant Shapps has outlined a range of measures that he hopes will help first time buyers onto the housing ladder, provide support for millions who have been left languishing on social housing waiting lists and get construction on the move.
Help onto the Housing Ladder
The Minister made clear his commitment to help those aspiring to get on the housing ladder. In March 2012, he plans to launch the NewBuy Guarantee scheme, which brings lenders, builders and Government together to offer mortgages on new-build properties with a fraction of the deposit currently required. While buyers may typically require £40,000 towards a new home, under this new scheme a £10,000 deposit will get them into a new-build property of their own.
Grant Shapps also confirmed that the scheme would be open to UK citizens buying on new build houses and flats up to £500,000 as their main home - whether they are first time buyers or moving up the ladder.
Getting Britain Building
The Minister confirmed that he is working with nine Government departments and organisations including the BBC, Network Rail and the Royal Mail to identify unused land and buildings that could be released for house-building.
To unlock sites for housebuilding blighted by poor infrastructure, Mr Shapps announced the allocation of the £500 million Growing Places Fund - launched just three months ago - to 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships across the country, helping to create thousands of jobs in construction and related industries.
The Minister also confirmed £432 million in cash bonuses for 353 councils that have built new homes, or have brought back into use empty properties - including a £21 million premium for new affordable homes.
The Minister also confirmed that he will allocate £45 million funding to help unlock 18 of the most difficult stalled sites in the country.
The funding forms part of the £420 million Get Britain Building fund. Launched less than two months ago, this multi-million pound cash injection is expected to unlock up to 16,000 homes on sites that are currently stalled, and help create up to 30,000 jobs in construction and related industries.
Ending the Centralised Social Rent System
Mr Shapps announced details for £19 billion deal that will release councils from a centralised social rent system.
The Minister said that for years, councils have been captives of a centralised system, surrendering their social rents to the Government to decide how best to redistribute it. This meant that the majority of councils lost millions in social rent - in some cases over half of what they collected.
Mr Shapps confirmed that councils will finally be allowed to keep the rents they collect, giving them an average 15% more to spend on managing and maintaining their homes.
Strengthening Protection for Leaseholders
The Minister also confirmed proposals to bring "outdated" protections for leaseholders back in line with changing property prices.
Mr Shapps proposes to raise the £25,000 "value limit" - or notional annual rental value - outpaced by house price inflation since it was set in 1990 - to £100,000, enabling many leaseholders to stay in their home when their lease comes to an end.