Our campaign marches to Whitehall to lobby Osborne
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes this week took Inside Housing’s Grant Britain Homes campaign for grant funding to build affordable homes to the Treasury.
In the grand finale of the four-week campaign Mr Hughes delivered a letter written on behalf of hundreds of backers into the hands of chancellor George Osborne and chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander ahead of the spending review on Wednesday.
The letter spelled out the campaign’s calls for Mr Osborne to make grant funding available in England to landlords for at least four years to build sub-market rent homes.
The campaign has won wide-ranging support from bodies such as the National Housing Federation, the Chartered Institute of Housing, the Confederation of British Industry, hundreds of social landlords, social and private tenants, private developers, homelessness charities, and politicians. More than 250 people have signed the online petition.
Mr Hughes said: ‘Supporting building housing associations does two important things of economic significance. It creates jobs, which lowers unemployment. And it also meets acute housing need, reducing dependence on the state and demands on overstretched existing homes. Investing in housing is a win-win option.’
