The £1bn councils are on track to spend could produce more than 8,000 new council homes, an expert estimate suggests. John Healey, the shadow housing minister, said: “It is absurd that out-of-date rules let councils borrow to build or buy commercial property, but not to invest in affordable housing. The boom in commercial property investment dwarfs the amount spent on homes partly because central government restricts how much councils can borrow against their existing housing assets. However, the Treasury offers cheap loans that can be spent on commercial property. There is no council housing in the borough and it has warned of “very long” waiting times for housing, and said many people will not be housed.

Source: The Guardian November 17, 2017 18:00 UTC