Labour proposes housing bond to develop 125,000 new homes

Labour plans to introduce a housing bond system to generate up to £5 billion to fund the construction of up to 125,000 new homes if elected at next month’s General Election, the party has said. Using the Help To Buy ISA, which was announced for first-time buyers by the Chancellor, George Osborne,as part of his Budget last month, the new bond scheme would enable house builders to develop significantly more new homes Income from the ISA would be placed into a “future homes investment fund” for new residential property schemes and is similar to housing bonds used in the 1920s to stimulate housebuilding. The fund, designed to help tackle the chronic housing shortage in this country, will be targeted at new sites with first-time buyers offered priority. In a speech to Labour supporters in Warrington on Saturday, Ed Miliband (left), said, “There’s nothing more British than the dream of homeownership. Starting out in a place of your own. But for so many young people today that dream is fading.” Describing Labour’s plan as the “first real plan for housebuilding in a generation”, Mr Miliband has vowed to deliver at least 200,000 homes a year by the end of the parliament,…

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