Home > News > New housing must be affordable

Speaking on Radio 4’s Westminster Hour programme last night, Nia said,

“At long last the Government’s Communities Secretary Sajid Javid is beginning to understand what Labour has said all along – that it makes sense to borrow to invest in infrastructure such as much need affordable housing, particularly at a time when interest rates are low. But this needs to be housing that is genuinely affordable to buy and to rent. Last year building was started on only 1,000 homes for social rent, whereas it was 40,000 in Labour’s last year of office.”

And on Universal Credit, Nia said,

“It is only because Labour led a debate last week on Universal Credit that the Government is even thinking about reducing the wait from six weeks to four, but even four weeks is too long for people who are living from day to day.”

Labour’s debate last week called on the Government to pause and rethink the disastrous roll-out of Universal Credit which has been beset with problems and left people hungry and facing eviction.