ABSTRACT
Local authority housing is normally financed over sixty years. Local authority borrowing increased by 56 per cent between mid-1963 and mid-1965 and at the latter date the proportion financed in the temporary market was over a fifth. Local housing authorities are statutorily required to keep a special Housing Revenue Account, and a separate Housing Repairs Account. More particularly, it aims at providing a stable financial basis for housing programmes by eliminating uncertainty about interest rates and also provides proportionately higher subsidies for housing developments which involve high costs. The Housing Subsidies Act of that year abolished the requirement that local authorities had to pay a subsidy from the rates and restricted Exchequer subsidies to certain special needs such as slum clearance and ‘overspill’ housing. Local housing authorities are required to keep a special Housing Repairs Account into which annual contributions are made from the Housing Revenue Account.
