Let Councils build homes for the homeless says Lib Dem

10.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 20th Apr 2008

Liberal Democrats in Northampton have called on the Government to allow Councils to build new Council houses after the latest figures show a steep increase since 1997 in the number of households in temporary accommodation in the town.

Andrew Simpson, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Northampton North, said, "These are very worrying figures and indicate that overall the trend is upwards with homelessness in Northampton remaining too high."

"This is despite very real improvements by the Borough Council in recent years. 91 families were homeless in 2006/07 - down significantly from 2004/05 when the figure peaked at 178 families but this is still much worse than the situation in 1997 when the Labour government came to power. Then 32 families in the town were without a home.

"I want to see real support from central Government rather than their current policy of setting ever higher targets for housing growth without the where-with-all to make it happen.

"There has been a lamentable failure by the Government to address the housing crisis in England. Labour are strangling council housing. Gordon Brown has ensured only a handful of new council houses have been built during the past decade across the country

"In March, Liberal Democrats in Parliament backed calls to give councils the power and resources to build new houses. The measure was defeated by the Government whilst the Conservatives sat on their hands and refused to take part in the vote.

"Had the measures been agreed, we could start to address the housing shortage here in Northampton. Instead, we will end up with more people in temporary housing and many others living in over crowded conditions.

"Despite Labour spin the truth is that, in England, we now have 450,000 less houses to rent from councils and other social landlords. If they want to solve the housing crisis they must give councils the authority and the money to build new council homes."

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Notes to Editors:

Source: CLG P1E Homelessness returns (quarterly)