Affordable housing

Meg asked a question of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury about affordable housing. Meg asked the Chief Secretary what he will do to ensure there are enough affordable homes for the people in Hackney to live in.

In Hackney, there is growing demand for affordable housing but there are few available and the small budget which housing associations have for building new affordable homes has been spent.

The full text is below:

Meg Hillier: The Chief Secretary spoke about the bidding for affordable housing, but the well has now run dry. Housing associations in my area have no more money to spend on affordable housing, and the birth rate in my area is increasing. What will the Chief Secretary do to ensure that in future people in Hackney and around the country have affordable homes to live in?

Danny Alexander: I want to see more affordable homes built. That is why this Government are the first Government to put in place Government guarantees for housing associations; that was never done by our predecessors. The Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Act 2012, which received Royal Assent last week, will enable housing associations to benefit from £10 billion of Government guarantees, lowering their cost of finance and enabling them to build more homes. That has been widely welcomed in the housing association sector, including by the National Housing Federation. I think the hon. Lady should welcome it, too.