When the government talks about infrastructure contributing to the economy the focus is usually on roads, railways, broadband and energy. Housing is seldom mentioned.

infrastructure  n. 基础设施

the focus is usually on...  焦点通常落在……

broadband  n. 宽带

housing  n. 住宅，住房（尤指住房类型、价格、条件）

seldom  ad. 很少，不常

当政府谈到基础设施对经济的贡献时，他们通常把重点放在公路、铁路、宽带和能源上。住房很少被提及。

Why is that? To some extent the housing sector must shoulder the blame. We have not been good at communicating the real value that housing can contribute to economic growth. Then there is the scale of the typical housing project. It is hard to shove for attention among multibillion-pound infrastructure project, so it is inevitable that the attention is focused elsewhere. But perhaps the most significant reason is that the issue has always been so politically charged.

housing sector  房地产行业，房地产部门

shoulder the blame  承担过失

shoulder  v. 肩负，承担

the real value  真实价值

shove  v. 挤；撞；猛推

multibillion-pound infrastructure project  数十亿磅基础设施项目

inevitable  a. 必然的，不可避免地

charged  v. 命令，吩咐

为什么？在某种程度上，房地产行业必须承担责任。我们不善于传达住房对经济增长的实际价值。其次是典型住宅项目的规模。在耗资数十亿英镑的基础设施项目中，很难吸引人们的注意力，因此，将注意力集中在其他地方是不可避免的。但最重要的原因或许是，这个问题一直以来都充满政治色彩。

Nevertheless, the affordable housing situation is desperate. Waiting lists increase all the time and we are simply not building enough new homes.

nevertheless  conj. 然而，不过

affordable  a. 负担得起的

desperate  a. 危急的，严峻的

all the time  一直

waiting list  候补名单；等候批准的申请人名单

尽管如此，经济适用房的情况令人绝望。等待名单一直在增加，我们根本没有建造足够的新房子。

The comprehensives pending review offers an opportunity for the government to help rectify this. It needs to put historical prejudices to one side and take some steps to address our urgent housing need.

comprehensive  a. 综合的，全部的，详尽的

review  n. 审核；审查

comprehensive spending review  综合开支审查

rectify  v. 改正，纠正

put historical prejudices to one side  将历史偏见搁置一边

prejudice  n. 偏见

take some steps  采取一些措施

address  v. 设法解决；处理；应付

urgent  a. 紧急的；急迫的

address our urgent housing need  解决我们迫切的住房需求

待审查的综合资料为政府提供了一个帮助纠正这一问题的机会。它需要把历史偏见放在一边，采取一些措施来解决我们迫切的住房需求。

There are some indications that it is preparing to do just that. The communities minister, Don Foster, has hinted that George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, may introduce more flexibility to the current cap on the amount that local authorities can borrow against their housing stock debt. Evidence shows that 60,000 extra new homes could be built over the next five years if the cap were lifted, increasing GDP by 0.6%.

indication  n. 迹象

hint  v. 暗示；示意

introduce  v. 引进，推行，实施

flexibility  n. 灵活性；弹性

cap  n. （可用或可借资金的）最高限额

authorities  n. 当局，官方（常用复数）

lift  v. 提高

housing stock debt  住房存量债务

只是有迹象表明这是在做准备。社区部长唐·福斯特（Don Foster）暗示，英国财政大臣乔治·奥斯本（George Osborne）可能会对目前地方政府从住房存量债务中借款的上限采取更大的灵活性。有证据显示，如果取消这一上限，未来五年内可能会多建6万套新房，使国内生产总值增长0.6%。

Ministers should also look at creating greater certainty in the rental environment, which would have a significant impact on the ability of registered providers to fund new developments from revenues.

look at  仔细考虑，研究

the rental environment  租赁环境

have a significant impact on  对……有重要影响

registered  a. 注册的，登记在册的

revenue  n. 国家的收入；岁入

部长们还应考虑在租赁环境中创造更大的确定性，这将对注册供应商通过收入为新开发项目提供资金的能力产生重大影响。

But it is not just down to the government. While these measures would be welcome in the short term, we must face up to the fact that the existing ￡4.5bn programme of grants to fund new affordable housing, set to expire in 2015,is unlikely to be extended beyond then. The Labour party has recently announced that it will retain a large part of the coalition’s spending plans if returns to power. The housing sector needs to accept that we are very unlikely to ever return to era of large-scale public grants. We need to adjust to this changing climate.

in the short term  短期内

grant  n. 拨款

expire  v. 期满；终止

retain  v. 保持，保留

coalition  n. 联合；联盟

face up to the fact  面对现实

be very unlikely to  ……的可能性很低

adjust to  适应……

但这不仅仅取决于政府。虽然这些措施在短期内是受欢迎的，但我们必须正视这样一个事实：现有的45亿英镑的资助新建经济适用住房的计划，将于2015年到期，不太可能再延长到那时。工党最近宣布，如果重新执政，将保留联合政府很大一部分开支计划。住房部门需要接受这样一个事实：我们不太可能回到大规模公共拨款时代。我们需要适应这种不断变化的气候。

While the government’s commitment to long-term funding may have changed, the very pressing need for more affordable housing is real and is not going away.

commitment  n. 承诺

long-term  a. 长期的

pressing  a. 迫切的

虽然政府对长期融资的承诺可能已经改变，但对