Housing jobs get a boost from Kickstart funding
Employers of housing jobs will be looking for workers soon, as the UK new build market gets a £83m boost from the Kickstart initiative.
Nearly 5,696 new homes are to be built this year on schemes selected for the second round of Kickstart funding. The cash injection aims to restart 87 stalled developments across the UK, with the extra funds providing for construction jobs and material costs at schemes that have been mothballed due to lack of resources during the economic downturn.
The developments were chosen from a list of 265 UK schemes shortlisted for Kickstart funding. Developers who receive funds are expected to provide construction jobs and apprenticeships for local workers and to be ready to start work as soon as possible - around a quarter of those given funding in this round are expected to resume work by the end of the month.
This second round of funding adds to the £425m already allocated in round one of the Kickstart initiative, which helped deliver a total of 6,000 new homes across 141 stalled schemes.
Sir Bob Kerslake, chief executive of the HCA, said: "with over 6,000 new and affordable homes now on their way to being completed through round 1 of the Kickstart programme, this second round of funding will help many more schemes get back on track."
Housing Minister John Healey, commenting on the programme, said: "In this recession, the government has not stepped back and left the homes and jobs we need to market. We're using public funding to keep Britain building through the downturn."
Of the 5,696 homes, 3,503 will be affordable, whilst 2,193 are expected to be made available through the equity loan 'HomeBuy Direct' scheme. Around 800 will be available as socially rented accommodation, whilst the remaining 345 will be available through the HCA's Low Cost Home Ownership programme.
Author: William Hobson
Keywords: construction jobs, Housing Jobs