We'll turbocharge house-building in region, says shadow Chancellor

Miss Reeves joined mayoral candidate Richard Parker to see a new social housing scheme at the site of the former Metafin works in Green Lane, Walsall, yesterday afternoon.

Claiming that Labour was now the party for homeowners, Mr Parker said, if elected as mayor, he would build an extra 2,000 social homes every year.

Miss Reeves said the number of young people living with their parents has, over the past four or five years, increased by 16 per cent.

Miss Reeves said 64,000 people were now on council housing waiting lists across the West Midlands, but the present mayor had succeeded in building just 46 new council homes.

"Richard wants to turbocharge the building of new homes, particularly social housing," Miss Reeves told the Express & Star.

"The demand is there and we know what a transformational impact it can have on people to have a home of their own.

"The great thing about these houses is that they have low bills because they are energy efficient."

Miss Reeves has pledged that a future Labour government would set housebuilding targets for local authorities, which would result in an extra 1.5 million homes being built over a five-year period.