The Government's housing policy is descending into chaos. After the Government's headline grabbing announcement of £1.5 billion to fund the building of 20,000 new homes comes a report in The Times that other programmes are being raided to fund it. This includes other projects for new homes at an advanced stage. A new housing development outside Cambridge was about to be signed off but will now have to be scaled back. “It is the worst case of robbing Peter to pay Paul I’ve ever seen," says Cllr Jill Tuck, the Conservative leader of Cambridgeshire County Council.
The Decent Homes programme – money for new bathrooms and kitchens for Council tenants – is also being raided by £150 million. “If this funding is taken away, thousands of families won’t get the new windows, bathrooms and kitchens that they have been patiently waiting for,” says Cllr Michael White, the Conservative leader of Havering which has budgeted £30 millon for the programme over the next two years.