In today’s announcement, Javid said: “On any given night, too many people are sleeping rough on our streets. The human cost of that is too high,” as he announced a further £54m would be put towards tackling the issue in 2020-21. This, he said, represents a real term increase of 13 per cent on 2019-20.
The chancellor said there would be £24m additional funding into the Building Safety Programme to prevent the repetition of a tragedy similar to Grenfell. This will be further to the £600m government funding towards the removal of aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding in the private and social residential sectors.
As well as this, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will consult on mandatory accessible housing standards in building regulations, ensuring new properties are built with accessibility standards to reflect the needs of those who are elderly and/or disabled.
Upgrading infrastructure
Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, said there must be an overarching strategy for new build homes and social housing, “which will be key to securing a prosperous post-Brexit Britain.
“What’s more, we need a retrofit strategy to ensure that our existing homes are fit for the future, and to alleviate the scourge of fuel poverty. Today’s Spending Round set the scene for a positive outlook for builders, but we need more details about how more new homes will be delivered,” he added.
