New Homes Bonus to boost affordable housing
Tuesday, 22 February 2011 3:08 PM
Britain's housing minister has announced the final design of a new government scheme, which it hopes will boost housing provisions in communities across the UK.
Housing minister Grant Shapps has explained how the New Homes Bonus would fulfil the coalition's commitment to give local authorities a real incentive to deliver housing growth.
Commencing in April, the scheme is intended to be a "powerful, simple and transparent" reward system designed to encourage councils to create more new accommodation.
Through its New Homes Bonus, the government will match fund the additional council tax raised for new homes and properties brought back into use, for the next six years.
As an extra incentive, the bonus will provide a further £350 for each affordable housing solution provided locally, making the cash boost available for an affordable home up to 36 per cent greater than for a similar-spec market property.
The Department for Communities and Local Government has set aside almost £1 billion for the scheme.
Shapps commented: "These radical reforms demonstrate our commitment to seeing a major upswing in housing to meet Britain's housing need and seeing more homes that people want in the places that people want them.
"We also want to see greater housing market stability, where house price rises are more in line with earnings growth. However, we will not impose this through top-down targets which attempt to dictate where growth happens.
"This framework will encourage local authorities and communities to increase their ambitions for housing and economic growth and to take the lead in managing the way in which villages, towns and cities develop," he concluded.
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