Oli Dugmore: Very glad to have you ever on the New Statesman podcast. Inform us about your announcement immediately. What are you saying?
Steve Reed: We’re saying an allocation of £7 billion to the six established metro mayors. They’ll use it to start out constructing social and reasonably priced houses. It’s half of a bigger bundle — the most important funding in such housing in over a era. The scarcity is determined, so this funding lets mayors act utilizing their information of native areas.
Oli Dugmore: Will mayors have flexibility over how the cash is used?
Steve Reed: Sure. They’ll be capable to bid to Houses England and select how greatest to spend it for his or her areas — for instance, the combination between council-built houses and dealing with non-public builders, and provision for older or disabled residents. This gained’t be dictated from Whitehall; we wish regionally led selections that get houses constructed rapidly.
[Further reading: Steve Reed: “Reform is a symptom of broken trust”]