Lord Bichard
Main Page: Lord Bichard (Crossbench - Life peer)
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend on managing to put down this Question on the day when there have been such helpful announcements in the Budget about home ownership. I agree with what he said about the difficulty for younger buyers in the market. I also agree that the aspiration of home ownership is extremely high and that is why I am particularly delighted that the Chancellor announced the £3.5 billion housing package, which includes an equity mortgage scheme, Help to Buy, as well as important changes to the right-to-buy scheme, all of which will help not only those mentioned by my noble friend but others in general.
Lord Bichard
In the light of the Select Committee report Ready for Ageing published last week, does the Minister accept the need for the Government to do more to encourage the more diverse provision of housing for older people, not just for the benefit of older people themselves but as a way of reducing costs to the public purse?