Homes for All, the ODPM's Five Year Plan, includes a wide range of measures to extend opportunities for home ownership, including:
* Helping 80 000 people into home ownership by 2010, including a new First Time Buyer's Initiative using publicly-owned land for new homes;
* Homebuy - a new scheme that will allow tenants of Local Authorities and Housing Associations to buy a stake in their home by extending the opportunity for home ownership for up to 300,000 families;
* Ensuring the proceeds from Homebuy sales are re-invested in housing;
* Continuing the Right to Buy and Right to Acquire schemes for people who qualify to purchase their home from their local authority or housing association;
* A competition to build a home for £60 000, delivering quality homes at lower costs;
* Changes to the planning system to ensure more affordable housing for key workers and young families in rural areas; and
* Maintaining a strong social housing sector.
At the same time, Mr Prescott announced plans to deliver housing growth responsibly in the South, and as well:
* Continued investment to deliver homes, jobs and infrastructure in four Growth Areas in the wider South East - delivering 1.1 million new homes by 2016; and up to £40 million to support other areas which want to pursue growth;
* New measures to protect the environment: extending existing density regulations to cover areas of high housing demand in the south west and east, including all the Growth Areas;
* New powers to protect the greenbelt;
* Introducing a code to create more sustainable buildings;
* Extending the £1.2 billion market renewal programme in the North and Midlands to cover new areas suffering from low demand and abandoned homes; and
* Action to help meet housing need in rural areas, with new planning guidance (PPG3) enabling local authorities to allocate sites for affordable housing in rural communities and permanently dedicated to meeting the needs of key workers and local people.
He set out plans to extend quality and choice for people renting their homes:
* Building 10 000 extra social homes a year by 2008 - a 50 per cent increase on current rates;
* Giving all social tenants and seven out of 10 vulnerable people in the private sector, a decent home;
* Extending choice-based lettings nationwide by 2010, giving tenants more say over where they live; and
* Unveiling MoveUK - a new online system bringing together nationwide information about jobs and housing opportunities, giving people the chance of a fresh start in a new area.
And the Deputy Prime Minister set out further plans to provide more support for people with particular housing needs through:
* Tackling homelessness, with the aim of halving numbers in temporary accommodation by 2010;
* Effective provision for Gypsies and Travellers, while tackling unauthorized development; and
* Providing more than £5 billion housing related support to help over 1.2 million people, many of them older or disabled people, to live independently in their own homes.
Launching the package, Mr Prescott said the proposals offered opportunity, choice and fairness in housing, across the country.
"Tackling the nation's chronic housing needs and giving people more choice is not just about them gaining a roof over their head - it's about giving people a stronger financial future and ensuring greater social justice.
"We are offering the most comprehensive, fair and flexible policies ever to deliver sustainable homeownership. It means more first time buyers, more people in social housing and more key workers like nurses and teachers being able to get on to the housing ladder."
Later this month a partner document, People, Places and Prosperity, will set out a five year plan of action for revitalising communities, invigorating local democracy and strengthen accountability from neighbourhoods to regions.
