The £4.2bn Housing Infrastructure Fund was launched by the government in 2017 to help build 324,000 new homes
Despite a housing crisis in the UK, with millions left without affordable housing, more than two-thirds of a government fund aimed at creating thousands of new homes remains unspent.
The £4.2bn Housing Infrastructure Fund was launched by the government in 2017 to help build 324,000 new homes by providing local authorities with funding for infrastructure such as transport and utility connections.
However, only 31% of the pot of money has been spent so far.
The shocking revelations were made following a Freedom of Information request, shared with the Financial Times. which also highlighted that a majority of the money which has been spent was spent in 2021 and 2022.
A recent report from the Centre for Cities found that compared to the average European country, Britain today has a backlog of 4.3 million homes that are missing from the national housing market as they were never built.
This housing deficit would take at least half a century to fill even if the Government’s current target to build 300,000 homes a year is reached.
The government also confirmed that work had begun on fewer than one in 10 of the promised homes.
So much for the Tory pledge of levelling up and boosting housebuilding. Yet another broken Tory promise.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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