"The
Prime Minister talks of launching an ‘all-out assault on poverty’, but his
government is soon to make almost three million working families and their five
million children significantly poorer. Cuts to tax credits next April will hit
the incomes of families already struggling to get by, forcing them deeper and
deeper into debt.
David
Cameron recognises the need to make the UK's inflated housing market more
affordable, yet anyone wanting to buy one of the new 'affordable' starter homes
needs to be earning at least £76,000 a year in London, or £50,000 elsewhere.
According
to the Treasury, only 30 per cent of the population earn more than £50,000,
pricing the starter homes way beyond the reach of most workers, including
public servants like nurses, teaching assistants, PCSOs and school cleaners.
Developers
given the option of providing 'affordable' housing are likely to opt for homes
to sell rather than rent, leaving anyone who doesn't earn enough to get a
mortgage high and dry.
This
housing crisis is forcing public sector workers to live further and further
from their places of work. Four more years of pay restraint and the cuts to tax
credits will make it increasingly difficult for local hospitals and councils to
recruit and retain staff.
The
government must commit to a national public house building programme to deliver
the low rent and affordable homes people need. This would lower housing costs,
cut the housing benefit bill, and make it much easier for people to rent or own
their own homes.”
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