A multi-billion pound Whitehall fund to attract private investors into social housing projects is just one option to stimulate demand being considered by ministers, officials have revealed. With house-builders reporting their lowest activity for decades, housing minister, Margaret Beckett, is eyeing plans to inject equity into social housing developments to make them more attractive to high-value investors, such as pension funds and insurance firms. But a CLG spokesman warned the sector, Ms Beckett's plan was embryonic and was just one option on the table. ‘We continue to explore with the HCA, and other organisations, a range of options to stimulate demand in the housing market,' he said. If implemented, the fund would become the latest ‘Keynesian' project to invest additional public money into ailing economies as ministers try to tackle the recession. CLG officials believe the scheme, which could be administered by the new Homes and Communities Agency, could attract £6 of private investment for every £1 of government cash spent, helping to kick-start stagnant building programmes. It would also inject much-needed cash into housing associations. The sector's watchdog, the Tenant Services Authority, recently revealed it was monitoring six associations amid fears they could collapse.
