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Labour’s radical plan to switch cash from housing benefit to build homes
From the London Evening Standard -
A radical plan to divert billions of pounds from housing benefit into a major housebuilding scheme are being drawn up by Labour, the party’s work and pensions spokesman said today.
Liam Byrne signalled the policy in an exclusive interview with the Standard. The Labour moderniser said that ballooning sums of taxpayer money paid in rent subsidies could be better spent on “increasing the amount of homes there are for people to go to”.
The shadow work and pensions secretary added: “Billions are spent with private landlords yet we ask nothing in return. We are spending £24 billion on housing benefit but hardly building any houses. No wonder rents are soaring. We simply cannot go on like this.”
A report last year by the Institute for Public Policy Research said taxpayers spent £19 on rent subsidy for every £1 the Gov-ernment puts into building houses. It suggested phasing out housing benefit and using the cash to award affordable housing grants to local authorities.
Gosh! What a novel idea!
Gosh! What a novel idea!
Building homes or phasing out HB or Labour having radical ideas?