#英语很简单#我爱记单词，爱灿灿老师！

2018.9.25

  When the government talks about infrastructure contributing to the economy the focus is usually on roads, railways, broadband and energy. Housing is seldom mentioned.

  Why is that? To some extent,the housing sector must shoulder the blame. We have not been good at communicating the real value that housing can contribute to economic growth.Then there is the scale of the typical housing project.It is hard to shove for attention among multibillion-pound infrastructure project,so it is inevitable that the attention is focused elsewhere.But perhaps the most significant reason is that the issue has always been so politically charged.This government does not want to see a return to large-scale provision of council housing, so it is naturally wary of measures that will lead us down that route.

  Nevertheless,the affordable housing situation is desperate. Waiting lists increase all the time and we are simply not building enough new homes.

 The comprehensive spending review offers an opportunity for the government to help recify this. It needs to put historical prejudices to one side and take some steps to address our urgent housing need.

 There are some indications that it is preparing to do just that.The communities minister, Don Foster,has hinted that George Osborne,Chancellor of the Exchequer,may introduce more flexibility to the current cap on the amount that local authorities can borrow against their housing stock debt.Evidence shows that 60,000 extra new homes could be built over the next five years if the cap were lifted,increasing GDP by 0.6%.

 Ministers should also look at creating greater certainty in the rental environment,which would have a significant impact on the ability of registered providers to fund new developments from revenue.

 But it is not just down to the government.While these measures would be welcome in the short term, we must face up to the fact that the existing 4.5bn programme of grants to fund new affordable housing, set to expire in 2015,is unlikely to be extented beyond then. The Labour party has recently announced that it will retain a large part of the coalition's spending plans if returns to power. The housing sector needs to accept that we are very unlikely to ever return to era of large-scale public grants.We need to adjust to this changing climate.

shove 推挤，猛推

inevitable 不可避免的，必然的

nevertheless 然而，不过

rectify 矫正，纠正

council 地方议会，委员会

wary 小心的

hint 暗示，提示

grant 政府机构的拨款

coalition 联盟，联合，结合