More cash to build affordable homes

The deputy prime minister has allocated £3.5bn to the Housing
Corporation to build 67,000 affordable homes over the next two
years.

The funding includes the £690m Key Worker Living programme to
recruit and retain teachers, social workers and nurses in areas
where house prices are high (news, page 6, 25 March).

Last month a Treasury-commissioned review of housing supply by Kate
Barker, a member of the monetary policy committee, recommended that
the number of affordable houses be increased by between 17,000 and
23,000 a year (news, page 11, 25 March).

But director of the homelessness charity Shelter Adam Sampson said
only £150m to £200m of the £3.5bn was actually new
money that had not already been allocated.