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Construction union UCATT is calling for early intervention by the newly formed Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to ensure that housing associations hit by the credit crunch do not go bust and money is made available for investment in new build social housing.
In an interview with Building Magazine last week Steve Douglas the Chairman of the Housing Corporation revealed that there were currently 9,000 unsold shared ownership homes built by housing associations. Two thirds of these have been empty for over six months. He also warned that the inability to sell the properties meant that the financial welfare of some of the affected housing associations was creating concern.
With the problem of homelessness growing, UCATT believes that action is needed to turn the empty properties into rented accommodation. The HCA and the Government should then lend the housing associations the money that they had expected to generate through the initial partial sale of the properties, on the proviso this is invested in building new properties for rent. The housing associations would then pay the money back through increased rental income.
Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of construction union UCATT, said: "There is an increased and urgent need for more homes to rent to ensure that the problem of homelessness does not increase in these difficult economic times. With the demand for rented accommodation rising, swift intervention is needed in order to prevent these properties being left empty indefinitely."
The housebuilding sector is the worst hit part of the construction industry, with the number of new units being completed having halved. Thousands of construction workers have been made redundant and a similar number of falsely self-employed workers have been laid off.
Investment in building new housing is essential to restore confidence in the industry and to also reduce redundancies and closures in related industries such as construction products, especially brick making and concrete production, industries which once closed are unlikely to be located in Britain in the future.
(CD/JM)
