HC Deb 27 November 1974 vol 882 cc176-7W
Mr. Sydney Irving

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many dwellings the Housing Corporation has built in the last five years; and what types of organisation it has used to bring about such development.

Mr. Kaufman

During the last five complete years the following number of completions—in newly built dwelling units—has resulted from schemes carried out by housing societies and housing associations and funded by the Housing Corporation:

Year ended 31st March 1970 4,169
Year ended 31st March 1971 6.006
Year ended 31st March 1972 3,961
Year ended 31st March 1973 3,370
Year ended 31st March 1974 3,926

Mr. Sydney Irving

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his estimate of the land acquisition needs and housing development target of the Housing Corporation for the next three years.

Mr. Kaufman

The Housing Corporation will be mainly concerned to promote and finance projects carried out by registered housing associations. In many cases the land will be directly acquired by the association without the intervention of the corporation and the latter thus does not have a firm target for the overall amount of land it will need to acquire, although it is always alert to the possibility of acquiring plots that may be useful for housing purposes. The corporation is currently approving new housing association schemes at the rate of about 30.000 dwelling units a year, and expects to be able to sustain this rate. The total programme comprises about 26,000 newly constructed units and 4,000 improvements or conversions.