Brown unveils social housing boost plans

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pledged extra cash to build social housing and affordable homes as part of a programme called "Building Britain's Future".

Brown said there was was an "urgent need" for new social housing and affordable homes in all parts of the country promised to treble investment in housing to £2.1bn over the next two years.

The money would pay for an extra 110,000 affordable homes to rent or buy over the next two years and create 45,000 jobs in construction, according to the BBC.

Brown said: "By building new and additional homes we can also now reform social housing allocation enabling local authorities to give more priority to local people whose names have been on waiting lists for far too long."