How much of a role should the government have in building homes? The vogue these days is for talking about localist solutions and helping the private sector to grow, but today Danny Alexander signalled a significant shift in the other direction. As he launched the 2014 National Infrastructure Plan, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury said he was examining how the state could commission and pay for new developments itself. The government is already building 10,000 homes at former RAF base Northstowe in Cambridgeshire, which is the first instance of the government working as a developer. Alexander said:
‘An idea I’ve been promoting is direct government commissioning of housing. The message to the house building sector will be simple – if you don’t build, we will.
‘We will be undertaking a detailed government review to examine the potential of direct government commissioning for housing to deliver the number of homes we need.’
Those who have studied housebuilding over the decades point out that it is only when the state has been involved that truly mass housebuilding has taken place.
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