Posted 28.02.13
Government can generate billions of pounds and support more than 20,000 jobs by investing in housing, according to the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH).
The CIH has written to Chancellor George Osborne ahead of next month's Budget, urging him to adopt a four-point plan to deliver 100,000 new and refurbished homes for rent across the market and affordable rented sectors, creating £5.7 billion of economic activity and supporting 24,000 jobs each year.
The measures outlined in the CIH's four-point plan are:
Introducing a Stamp Duty holiday for landlords bringing empty homes back into use as rented housing.
This would support bringing 5,000 homes a year back into use through private investment of £50 million a year, support 600 jobs a year and add £142 million of value to our economy per year at a maximum cost to the Government of £12.5 million per year.
Giving landlords the confidence to invest for the future by providing longer term certainty on rents in the affordable housing sector post April 2015.
This would create the conditions for landlords to secure around £3 billion a year of new private finance to invest in continued supply of new homes.
Amending local authority borrowing rules so they can invest more in developing new homes.
This would release nearly £10 billion of investment over five years, to build 15,000 homes a year, supporting 23,500 jobs a year and adding £5.6 billion to our economy per year.
The CIH's Budget submission in full can be accessed via this link.
