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Housing

Volume 470: debated on Thursday 24 January 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on what criteria the decision made to grant the housing market renewal scheme £1 billion of Government funding on 11 October 2007 was based. (166231)

Decisions to grant the housing market renewal programme additional funding of around £1 billion for 2008 to 2011 were taken as part of allocations within the Department for Communities and Local Government following the comprehensive spending review 2007.

The new funding reflects in part the initial success of the programme in narrowing the gaps in house prices and vacancies between pathfinders and their regions, as recognised in the National Audit Office’s recent report on the programme. It also recognises that more remains to be done—in some cases, to continue to tackle problems of deep-seated structural need, where markets are reviving more slowly; and in others to ensure that the housing market renewal and growth programmes can be taken forward together where appropriate, responding to emerging issues including the need for more affordable housing.

Decisions on allocations to individual areas will be taken shortly.