Status of Affordable Starter Homes Criticised by MPs

In 2015, an initiative started by the government targeted the construction of 200,000 homes that would sell at a 20 per cent discount.

This government plan was then lauded by many and had about 85,000 young people waiting out for this starter home scheme.

But in a move that has angered many and rallied cross-party MPs, the government has announced that it would formally scrap the project this year.

A cross-party committee of MPs had looked into the project. With a report from the Commons public accounts, it revealed that the project had spent £173m buying land. There has yet to be a single home built.

The project claims that it is now on course to deliver 6,600 homes before it gets replaced by a new scheme.

The MP committee has called this move "deplorable" and has called out the government for this waste in time and resources. The committee expresses dismay at how this housing policy has been "stringing expectant young people along for years."

Last week, the annual figures reported that construction of the social houses between March 2019 and April 2020 was akin to the lowest levels of the 1980s.

Social Housing experts have pointed out that 145,000 affordable homes are needed every year.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) set an ambitious target of building 300,000 homes a year in England. With the facts above, it was naturally met with stern criticism. More questions were raised when the committee found the MHCLG to be "unable or unwilling" to clarify just how they would achieve the 300,000 new homes target at this point of 2020.

"The department for 'housing' is at risk of losing the right to the title," said Meg Hillier MP, chair of the committee. "It has serially, constantly failed to deliver affordable new homes or even make a serious attempt to execute its housing policies or achieve targets before they are ditched, unannounced – costs sunk and outcomes unknown.… MHCLG needs to ditch the false promises and set out clear, staged, funded plans, backed by the necessary laws and with a realistic prospect of delivering."

The Starter Homes project which started with promise began to fizzle out when mortgage lenders made it challenging to value properties with discounts applied.

A spokesperson for the MHCLG responded to the criticism pointing out that the news was misleading.

"Since 2010 over 663,000 households have been helped into homeownership through government schemes," they said. "We're also investing over £12 billion in affordable housing over the next five years – the largest investment in a decade – and our new First Homes scheme will help local people and key workers buy their own home, in the area, they already live, at a discount of 30%."