"Government has not been a great landlord, and is itself so hugely overborrowed that it is not in a good position to borrow to build Council houses on a big scale." explains John Redwood, adding, "I have no problems with the government helping bridge the gap for people with too little savings to make the large deposit for a first home. Banking Regulators have lurched from allowing or encouraging banks to lend far too much against each home, to letting them lend too little. The government has decided to intervene directly whilst the banks and their regulators are being so cautious".
"intervene directly?" - what can he mean. And we do of course know precisely what the "preferred mechanism" for funding social housing is.
"If we wish to see more homes built where people want them then we do need to ensure a sensible flow of finance to the home market. Recent years have seen all too few new homes built, making it more difficult for people to find the home they need in the parts of the country under pressure".
I think we can safely assume that John isn't talking about ensuring a sensible flow of finance to facilitate "social" or heaven forfend "council housing" in those areas where people find it difficult to find the home they need - "those people" probably aren't wanted in those areas unless and until they can afford to buy...
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