BARBARA JANKE WARNS ON HOUSING FUNDING

MORE money is needed for new housing in Bristol and the South West, says Bristol City Council leader Barbara Janke.
Investment is vital for infrastructure and new homes, including affordable housing, to protect the West’s economy, she will tell housing experts and others in a keynote speech today (Weds 10th).
Councillor Janke (Lib Dem) will tell the National Housing Federation event: “These are extremely difficult times financially.
“But our undoubted success as a city and a region now depends partly on making it possible for young people, including key workers, to find the homes they want here.”
The South West saw a greater increase in government spending for housing in the period 2008-11, but Barbara Janke will say the region must continue to attract major funding – despite government cutbacks.
Bristol, for instance, receives less Private Sector Renewal Funding than similarly sized cities such as Southampton (£1.9m), Leicester (£2.5m), Derby (£4.5m) and Portsmouth (£2.5m). Bristol only gets £1.1 million.
House prices in the West are eight times average earnings. But, in Bristol, for instance, only around 450 affordable homes are being built each year – against a demand of more than 1,500 a year. There are well over 12,000 people on the city’s housing waiting list.
“It’s particularly important that we can provide homes for our young people. The government needs to recognise our economic success by boosting funding in this area,” Councillor Janke will say.
“In Bristol, the Liberal Democrat council is building council houses again, thanks to new investment by the government. We are also bringing more empty houses back into use.
“But there is still a problem providing affordable homes for the people who want to live and work locally.
“But it is not enough just to provide homes. We are also looking to build communities, dense communities with all the infrastructure they need. This needs proper investment from the government.”