Bridget condemns Labour cutbacks in social housing

4.13.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 31st Mar 2005

Bridget Fox has condemned John Prescott and the Labour government for breaking their commitments and taking public money away from supporting new social housing in London.

Bridget says "The spiralling cost of housing in Islington is a huge concern to local people. Families cannot afford to stay in the area they have always called home; council tax becomes ever less affordable; and public services struggle to house the key workers we need.

"Now the Labour government has siphoned off £50m earmarked for social housing to pay for its new first-time buyers scheme - with London one of the regions worst hit.

Bridget Fox: local people desperately need more funding for affordable housing

"It is shocking that Islington families in need of affordable homes are losing out. Help for first-time buyers is welcome - but it should be new money, not taking from desperately needed affordable housing."

The funding reshuffle came to light when the £5.5bn of social housing funding to be split between the nine English regions in 2006-8 was announced last Tuesday. £50m had been cut and given to the first-time buyers initiative for 2007/8.

The final announcement was £34m less than the version consulted on last December.

And London in particular has lost out - the region was promised a 14% increase in the December consultation paper, but this has fallen to just a 10% increase in the final announcement.

Berwyn Kinsey, head of the London Housing Federation, writing in Housing Today, commented "We are disappointed that the growth in the level of funding for London is slower than we hoped. We do not think it takes account of overcrowding and the number of people in temporary housing. It does seem strange to take money out of an existing programme to support a new initiative. We had hoped the first-time buyers initiative would be new money."

Bridget adds, "Once again, Labour's reality falls far short of the rhetoric. John Prescott short-changed Islington residents on the Market Estate - this must not happen again on affordable homes for our borough."