BSRIA has responded to the Government’s announcement of borrowing money to fund the building of hundreds of thousands of new homes. Communities secretary Sajid Javid said taking advantage of record-low interest rates “can be the right thing if done sensibly”.
He said between 275,000 and 300,000 homes a year – a level of housebuilding not seen since the 1960s – were needed in England alone to help tackle the shortage in affordable housing.
Government has admitted housebuilding in the UK is failing to keep up with demand and has described the current market as “broken”.
Tassos Kougionis, principal consultant of Residential at BSRIA’s Sustainable Construction Group, said: “Delivering more new homes has been one of the biggest residential challenges the UK has faced in recent years. Government has already committed to increasing the housing volume delivered per year, targeting to deliver almost 250,000 homes annually.
“BSRIA supports this announcement if it kick-starts much-needed housebuilding. In February, the Government released its Housing White Paper called: Fixing our Broken Housing Market. The paper introduced a plan to deliver more new homes per year in order to meet the ever-increasing housing demand around the country. Wherever the financial incentives are drawn – it is clear to me that both public and private stakeholders will have to work closer together in order to deliver the targets required.
“Of course, it is also very important that the new homes we construct are of high quality and offer occupants the right environment to live and thrive.”
Mr Javid went on to say that Government is “looking at new investments” and that any announcements would come in next month’s budget.
Recent announcements by the Government include a pledge by Theresa May at the Conservative Party conference this month of an extra £2 billion to build an additional 25,000 social homes.
