Councils can start building affordable homes again

Our Labour Government is lifting restrictions on councils being able to build new affordable homes.

This is a real challenge for Wandsworth Council, which has made an awful lot about the 200 "hidden homes" it has built in the last five or so years and now has the chance to show us how committed it really is to building affordable homes.

On the one hand we do have the 200 hidden homes - an excellent initiative but always limited in how many homes they can build because they're units built on existing estates where bin-sheds and garages once were.

On the other, they've sold off over 16,000 council homes, something that has caused massive homelessness and housing shortages and has destroyed estates as stable communities have become buy-to-let, high-turnover ghettos.

Now, instead of just having to search around for the odd space where a home could be fitted, useful amounts of affordable homes could be built in Putney.

Housing Minister Margaret Beckett said this when launching the new scheme:

"We are determined to help keep house building going in the current climate, as the long term need for more homes is not going to disappear. These new freedoms will encourage councils to play a bigger role in driving forward the delivery of new affordable homes for families in housing need."

This is a good first step. But we need to cut away a lot more of the red tape that stops councils building affordable homes for rent.