Select committee: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Conclusion 15
3rd Report: Building more social housing
Published 27 Jul 2020
Paragraph 92
Addressed to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee Long-term delivery of social and affordable rented housing All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We estimate that land value reform could reduce the cost of the programme by up to 40 per cent. By building more social housing on Government-owned public land, the overall cost of the programme could be further reduced. Some of the money could also be redistributed from existing budgets within the Department, and the rest could be borrowed while interest rates are historically low. While the overall savings gained from the long-term reduction in the housing benefit bill are difficult to quantify, it is clear that, over time, as the programme delivers social rent homes, the Government could use savings in housing benefit to subsidise the programme. Therefore, although there are many factors that might impact the overall cost of the programme, it is unlikely to cost £10 billion in extra spending.
From: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, 3rd Report: Building more social housing (HC 173), paragraph 92, 27 July 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 14 October 2020 (deadline 27 September 2020).