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Exclusive: £7bn housebuilding fund for local mayors

Oli Dugmore: Very glad to have you on the New Statesman podcast. Tell us about your announcement today. What are you announcing? Steve Reed: We’re announcing an allocation of £7 billion to the six established metro mayors. They can use it to start building social and affordable homes. It’s part of a larger package — the biggest investment in such housing in over a generation. The shortage is desperate, so this funding lets mayors act using their knowledge of local areas. Oli Dugmore: Will mayors have flexibility over how the money is used? Steve Reed: Yes. They’ll be able to bid to Homes England and choose how best to spend it for their regions — for example, the mix between council-built homes and working with private developers, and provision for older or disabled residents. This won’t be dictated from Whitehall; we want locally led decisions that get homes built quickly. [Further reading: Steve Reed: “Reform is a symptom of broken trust”]