Cabinet move 'to aid first time buyers'

26-Jun-2007

News that Gordon Brown is to include the housing minister Yvette Cooper in his new cabinet when he becomes prime minister tomorrow have been welcomed by London Councils, which says that first time buyers stand to benefit.

The lobbying and policy group has said that greater government investment is the only way that that the 15,000 affordable homes that need to be built in London every year will materialise.

Such investment will have to amount to a 50 per cent increase in London's current annual budget, rising to £1.3 billion, the organisation has claimed.

"Gordon Brown's announcement that the housing minister will now sit in the Cabinet demonstrates the government's commitment to addressing the affordable housing shortage - a commitment we at London Councils share," advised executive member for housing Jamie Carswell.

"Nowhere else feels this shortage as acutely as in London - where high house prices and a chronic shortfall of affordable homes have contributed to a growing crisis.

"We applaud the government's promise to ensure that tackling the housing shortage will become a central element of its policy - and having a housing minister in the Cabinet will be crucial to achieving this"

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