Because it is "commercially sensitive" they cannot give more details and there is nothing on either Newcastle City Council or Your Homes Newcastle (the almo that runs housing) saying how it will work.
What is clear is the present credit crunch, economic crisis, fall in pay for especially low paid workers means many more need good quality council housing and mortgages are not what will help the thousands in newcastle who need a secure affordable home.
But if there is money to support council housing how should we spend it?
Private businesses have made millions in the last few years building houses in the northeast after years upon years of rising prices where those with money have invested in buying up land knowing that its value is going up, building apartments to sell to businesses that have not helped the most vulnerable in the city. They have profited handsomely at our expense from the market, and this has been contrasted by no new housing built in the public sector.
So now that things are tough, are we helping them out with "cash flow problems" as one of the articles suggests. Yes the council will of course get the housing at a discount, but by buying up 15 houses on the new estate are we making it viable for the private company to still make a good profit on this estate... Are we giving public money, yet again to private profit.
Should we not instead look at building decent houses, that kind that we know are needed, not just those that private sector can't shift, and forcibly taking over run down and empty pockets to make them suitable for tenants.
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