Looking For House And Home

You can normally get a good feel for changing political priorities by tracking how often the parties refer to particular issues over time. Search for ‘house’ and ‘home’ in the manifestos of the two main parties and in 2001 neither term got much of a look-in. Today references to both are legion. If we quite literally take the parties at their word, whoever forms the next government looks set to give housing the prominence it deserves (and that voters clearly think it should have too). The Conservatives reiterate their 2015 commitment to deliver 1 million homes by 2020 and promise a further half a million by 2022; Labour also sign up to build the magic million. Read more analysis on the Resolution Foundation website.

Conservative Manifesto Summary: Housing

·         Halve rough sleeping over the course of the next parliament and eliminate it by 2027

·         Meet 2015 commitment to deliver a million homes by the end of 2020 and half a million more by the end of 2022

·         Build better houses to match the quality of previous generations

·         Support for high-quality, high-density housing like mansion blocks, mews houses and terraced streets

·         160,000 houses built on government land

·         Maintain the existing strong protections on designated land like the Green Belt, National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

·         Continue £2.5bn flood defence programme to protect 300,000 existing homes by 2021.

Read more on the BBC website.

No End In Sight For Britain's Housing Crisis

The Government's attempts to fix Britain's housing crisis are "insufficient" and a shortage of homes will pump up prices for years to come, the European Commission has warned. While "progress" had been made to address the shortage, the EC said the UK's "lengthy, uncertain, complex and costly" planning system would drive a "continued mismatch between supply and demand". This would "place sustained upward pressure on house prices," it said. Targets to sell public land, a relaxation of the planning system to support development and "adopting a number of initiatives" to help meet a target for 1 million homes to be built by 2020 were welcomed. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

Statistics Watchdog To Speak To CLG Over Million Homes Target

The UK’s statistics watchdog will open talks with government officials to improve the clarity of numbers used to track its much-vaunted ‘million homes’ target. Ministers had previously promised to “build” a million new homes over the life of this parliament, but last month revealed the government would use “net additions” figures to measure this progress. Net additions figures include conversions from offices and larger homes, and are routinely higher than measures of new building. Ministers also pushed the timescale out for meeting the pledge to December 2020, meaning it needs 174,000 net additions each year to hit the target – 16,000 below the 190,000 recorded in 2015/16. Read more on Inside Housing.

HCA Chair: We Will Hammer Councils Which Fail To Deliver Targets

Local authorities which fail to deliver housing delivery targets set through standard measures will get “caned”, the Homes and Communities Agency chair has warned.  Sir Edward Lister suggested that the Local Plans shake-ups in the Housing White Paper were the “most important” factor in the government achieving its target of building a million homes by 2020. He said: “It is about Local Plans and about five-year housing supply being identified sensibly and properly. And there’s all sorts of stuff in the White Paper about that and having to have a five-year housing supply and a Local Plan and if you don’t you’re going to get caned.” Read more on Inside Housing.

Older People To Get Help To Downsize

Theresa May’s government will use its flagship housing strategy to make it easier for older people to move into smaller homes, which could free up larger properties for families. A policy to incentivise more good-quality, new-build sheltered accommodation will be included in a white paper, which also aims to break the dominance of a limited number of large housebuilders. Councils, housing associations and smaller developers will be encouraged to build more as the government sets out how it plans to meet a target of 1m new homes by 2020. Read more on the Guardian website.

House Builders' Fears Over 'Use It Or Lose It' Policy

House building industry sources sounded alarm at proposed Government plans to give developers a timetable to build homes, or risk losing their planning permission.  The long-delayed housing white paper will hit house builders which have been tasked with helping to meet the Government’s target of one million new homes by 2020. One major developer said that the 'use it or lose it' measure would be onerous on the sector, potentially leading to fewer homes being built, more slowly. As a result, house builders could seek smaller planning permissions in order to get around the rules, and bottlenecks would develop in the already-stretched planning system.  Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

Housing In England Report

A new report from the National Audit Office (NAO) comments on the government's ambition of delivering one million new homes by 2020. Surprisingly, it concludes that it does not require a substantial increase in current levels of housebuilding. The report concludes that:

·         The need for housing in England has in recent years grown faster than its supply.

·         To keep up, housebuilding needs to increase across the country.

·         Housing has become more affordable for existing homeowners.

·         In contrast, social rents have risen faster than wages.

·         Housing is less affordable for a first-time buyer now than it was in the 1990s.

·         Homelessness has also increased over the past five years.

Download the report form the NAO website.

Government Will Miss Pledge To Build 1m Homes By May 2020

Ministers have been accused by Labour of dropping their promise to build a million homes in this parliament. The party said the government was no longer aiming to meet its pledge by May 2020, as a National Audit Office (NAO) report showed the target for completion was December 2020 – a delay of eight months. The NAO suggested the government is on course to exceed the goal by the end of 2020, which will require 174,000 new homes a year until then. Last year, around 190,000 homes were added to the housing stock. But Labour suggested that the CLG should have been more transparent about the longer timescale for completing the pledge. Read more on the Guardian website.

Social Rents Have Increased Faster Than Earnings

Social housing rents have increased faster than earnings over the last 15 years, according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report. The report into the housing market and policy in England said between 2001/02 and 2014/15 typical full-time earnings increased by 33% but typical rents for council properties increased by 79% and housing association rents increased by 72% in the same period. The NAO said different government departments can have “conflicting objectives”. An example was the introduction of the 1% rent reduction, announced by the Treasury, which reduced the ability of housing associations to scale up their development plans and might impact the Department for Communities and Local Government’s plan to build one million homes by 2020. Download the report from the NAO website.

Govt Offers “Timid” Response To Lords Committee’s Housing Report

A House of Lords committee has branded the Government’s response to a housing report “inadequate” and even “timid”. In July, the Lords’ Economic Affairs Committee (EAC) published its report ‘Building More Homes’, which criticised the Government’s target of one million new homes by 2020 as inadequate. Furthermore, it said that the level of house building required to meet the housing crisis could not be met by the private sector alone. The committee called on the Government to free local authorities to build more homes for rent and to move away from its focus on subsidising home ownership and do more to support people to rent affordably. Now the response to that report has itself been described as "inadequate to deal with the scale of the crises in the housing market" by Lord Hollick, the EAC’s chair. Read more on Housing Excellence.

Housing White Paper To Include Review Of Section 106 Deals

Crest Nicholson chief executive Stephen Stone has revealed the government plans to review section 106 and the community infrastructure levy in the forthcoming housing white paper. The white paper is due to be published in January, with measures included which the government hopes will help it hit its target of building one million homes by 2020. Stone revealed he had dinner last week with communities secretary Sajid Javid and said he believes the Tories are planning to “re-open” section 106 and the community infrastructure levy (CIL). But he criticised the planned measure and said: “It will create chaos again when you want to get planning and want to get building.” Read more on the Building website.

Free Up Councils To Build Homes, Says Think Tank

The government must free up local authorities to take more decisions on how and where housing can be delivered, a new report says. Independent think tank Localis argues only by affording local authorities greater flexibility around finance and land can the government hope to achieve the million new homes target by 2020. The report ‘makes a series of recommendations to drive a ‘new surge’ in housebuilding, including;

·         HRA debt cap is lifted to better reflect local authorities’ ability to service debt.

·         Right to Buy receipts are fully retained locally, for local authorities to invest in replacing disposed stock.

·         Combined authorities are devolved powers to freeze land values as part of their Mayoral Development Corporation.

Read more on 24housing.

Healey Slams “Disappointing” 11% Rise In Net Housing Supply

Despite an 11% increase in net supply over the last year, England continues to fall short on the number of new homes needed to tackle the housing crisis, the latest official statistics have revealed. The Home Builders Federation (HBF) was generally upbeat in its response to the net housing supply figures, suggesting that it indicated the housebuilding industry was on track to meet the Government target of one million homes over the course of this Parliament. Annual housing supply in England in 2015-16 came to 189,650 net additional dwellings – up 11% on 2014-15 – according to today’s figures. Newbuilds accounted for 163,940 of these net additions. Read more on Housing Excellence.

PM 'Will Not Hit' One Million New Homes Target

The government's target is one million new homes by 2020; the argument being that more supply will bring down prices. But the head of one of the UK's largest housebuilders, Berkeley Homes, says the target may be missed. Radical change will be required to raise the current new-build rate above 170,000 per year, says Rob Perrins. When I asked him if the target would be hit, his answer was emphatic. "There are three reasons why they will not hit the target. Firstly, there is not enough land ready for development. Secondly, the UK has the highest property taxation in the world. And it acts as a disincentive to build and [for people to] move. And thirdly, I don't believe it is a top three political issue.” Read more on the BBC website.

Government 'To Miss 1m Homes Target'

The government is set to miss its one million homes target as a result of market uncertainty following the Brexit vote, a consultancy has forecast. A report produced by research consultancy Capital Economics for homelessness charity Shelter estimates a 266,000 shortfall in housing starts by 2020, due to uncertainty over the vote to leave the European Union. The report projects that the number of homes expected to be built in 2017 will fall from 164,000 to 140,000 as market confidence drops – a reduction of 14.6%. In 2018, 151,000 homes are expected to be built, instead of 176,000 as previously expected. The report uses data for house prices and housing starts and makes forecasts for changes in gross domestic product following the Brexit vote. Download the report from Capital Economics website.

Lewis Rows Back From Million Homes Target

The housing minister has distanced himself from the prime minister’s pledge to build a million new homes by the next general election. Brandon Lewis told members of the Commons CLG committee that the prime minister’s target remained important but would not necessarily result in more social housing. Committee chairman Clive Betts (Lab) asked Lewis to explain what the target actually was: “The prime minister has promised a million homes extra in this parliament. Just to be clear is that starts or completions?”  “What the prime minister said was we want to see a million homes across the different tenures and types. Making sure we facilitate that is quite important.” He also refused to be drawn on whether there would be more social rented houses built by the end of this Parliament. Read more on 24dash.

'Million' New Homes Aim Declared By Brandon Lewis

The government says it wants a million homes built in England by 2020. The National Housing Federation estimated 974,000 homes were needed between 2011 and 2014. But figures from 326 councils showed only 457,490 were built. Housing minister Brandon Lewis said the government aimed to see one million new homes over this Parliament, but Labour said the Tories had failed on housing. In 2012, the government introduced changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, aimed at making the planning process simpler and quicker. Some 240,000 planning applications have been given detailed permission in 2014 compared with 158,000 in 2011. Read more on the BBC website.