Spending on housing could plummet if the Conservative Party were to win the next election, influential academics have said.
Shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin said on Tuesday that the party would cut public spending by up to £35bn.

The party also proposed to protect health and education spending and increase pensions in line with average earnings while freezing or reducing local government spending, which could mean cuts for housing.

Peter Robinson, senior economist at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said the Conservatives want to cut public spending from 5% to under 2% a year in real terms.

"The Conservatives have said health, schools and pensions will be given priority. This mean areas like housing will see a significant deceleration in spending or a real terms reduction," he says.

Professor Steve Wilcox of York University said the decent homes target for both councils and ALMOs would be put at risk by the cuts.

He said: "In order to achieve cuts they have said they will freeze or reduce spending on local government as a whole, and capital funding by local authorities on housing is a big chunk of that." He added that any cuts to the Housing Corporation's budget would jeopardise the Communities Plan.

A spokeswoman for the Conservatives said they did not yet have a breakdown of their spending plans for housing.

Source

Housing Today