CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONFERENCE 2016: Housing minister Gavin Barwell has hinted that the government’s housing white paper will be released at the same time as the Autumn Statement.
“Given that clearly there might be financial implications for it, that might be a well educated guess,” he said at a RICS fringe event when asked whether the paper would be released around the same time as the Autumn Statement.
Communities minister Sajid Javid yesterday announced that the government would be releasing a housing white paper as he proclaimed housing delivery a “moral duty for us all”.
The white paper will “set out a coherent strategy for how we can get this country building the homes we need”, he said.
Policies will include how to encourage institutional investment in the private rented sector.
Barwell said government was currently talking to investors about a number of different policies it has come up with that might encourage that investment.
Speaking to Estates Gazette, he indicated that the long-awaited starter homes regulations could also be released alongside the white paper.
He said they were due to come out “quite soon”, adding: “Decisions and the take on that are wrapped into the wider strategy of the white paper.”
The white paper will set out the “full range of policies the government is going to pursue”, he said.
“The key message is I want to see more of everything. I want to see more homes built for the open market, I want to see more homes in the PRS, more shared ownership, more sub-market-rent homes as well. Because the need that exists in the country is across all tenures. So, I don’t want to get in the business of picking between everything, we want more of everything.”
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