In its report Housing and the Credit Crunch, published today MPs also urge the Government to do more to help those at risk of repossession by considering sanctions against lenders who repossess too quickly and by doing more to protect tenants and homeowners from unscrupulous landlords.
The Government must stick to its long term house building targets, despite the credit crunch, but a greater proportion of the homes should be social housing, the Communities and Local Government Committee has concluded.
However, the Committee is concerned that the £975 million borrowed by the Government from its 2010-11 budgets to build social rented housing now is not new money, and that the Government has been unable to say how that borrowing will be replaced.
Commenting on the report, chair of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee, Dr Phyllis Starkey MP, said: "The credit crunch has not reduced the numbers of households needing new housing, nor does it affect the need to address years of undersupply.
"The message which we received from witnesses during our inquiry was clear: the steps the Government is taking are welcome, but further action is needed if the Government is to have a chance of meeting its targets for home building and achieving the goal of a decent home for all.
"We are particularly concerned that the Government is borrowing from future budgets now with apparently no idea how it is going to restore that money at a later date."
