Sajid Javid has called on the chancellor to fund a new housebuilding programme through extra borrowing.
Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show yesterday, the communities secretary said Philip Hammond should “take advantage of record low interest rates”.
He said: “I want to make sure we’re using everything we have available to deal with this housing crisis. I’m the first to admit, we have not seen enough housing delivery.”
Javid: not enough housing delivery
Javid has asked Hammond for £50bn in the next budget to fund the programme, according to The Sun.
He has also increased the housebuilding target to 300,000 houses a year – a 50% increase on the 200,000 promised by the Tories two years ago.
The communities secretary said the new figure was “very similar” in scale to the housebuilding programme of Harold Macmillian’s government of the 1960s.
Javid wants to see more new developments fast-tracked on government-owned land.
“We have to continue to be bold in this area,” he said.
