Incentive payments should help first-time buyers
Author: Tom Lloyd, Inside Housing |
Councils should consider using new homes bonus funding to set up schemes to help first-time buyers get on the housing ladder, according to an influential think tank.
Localis makes the recommendation in a report on infrastructure funding, Credit where credit’s due, which it produced with Lloyds Banking Group and published yesterday.
Local authorities receive new homes bonus payments for allowing homes to be built in their area. These are equal to the council tax generated from the home, and are paid for six years after completion.
Localis suggests the money could be used to set up equity schemes similar to the government’s 400 million Firstbuy programme. The local authority would take a stake in new homes to lower the cost for the buyer.
Inside Housing recently carried out a survey to find out how NHB money is being spent. Only 21 per cent of councils said they were investing in housing, infrastructure or planning. However a smaller Localis survey of council leaders and chief executives carried out to inform its paper found 68 per cent expect to spend NHB funding on infrastructure.
Localis’ main recommendation is that the government should set up and help capitalise a 30 billion National Infrastructure Bank. It argues this could be set up without increasing the budgetary deficit and would allow growth to continue despite funding cuts.
Localis’ chief executive Alex Thomson is a former advisor to communities secretary Eric Pickles, and is credited with a key role in the creation of the coalition government’s approach to local government.
Mr Pickles spoke at the launch of the report yesterday, and praised it as ‘an excellent contribution to the debate on this crucial issue’.