Simon Clarke is the sixth secretary of state since housing was added to the department’s title in 2018, having replaced Greg Clark, the MP for Tunbridge Wells, who has held the position since former levelling up secretary Michael Gove was sacked by Boris Johnson on 7 July.
Clarke, a former chief secretary, has inherited a brief full of urgent issues from homelessness to the private rented sector, with the Rental Reform Bill undoubtedly high on his new priority list.
Housebuilding is also another crucial area of concern, with developers building an insufficient supply of new homes to satisfy demand. Consequently, the new housing secretary, like many before him, has pledged to unlock the homes this country needs.
He tweeted: “Delivering on Levelling Up for communities in all parts of our country, unlocking the homes we need and supporting the economic growth that is so central to @trussliz’s government is our mission – will give it my all.”
Propertymark has welcomed the latest pledge by the new secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities to boost housing supply.
Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns for Propertymark, commented: “The doors of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities have been revolving at some pace in recent years. The sector now needs the stability of long-term appointments throughout its ministerial team.
“High on Simon Clarke’s to-do list must be policies that help to close the gap between supply and demand in the sales and rental markets, so it’s encouraging to see his early commitment to unlocking the homes that are desperately needed across all tenures to meet the demands of a population that is growing and living longer.
“On levelling up, there are challenges and opportunities for our sector. For example, our commercial member agents are concerned about the practicalities of enforced ‘auctions’ of empty high street properties. It is essential Mr Clarke’s team works with property professionals to understand the market to ensure their policies are workable.”
He will probably join the others and be gone in a few weeks. There is no substance to this article. As far as “unlocking” homes abandoning the 300,000 new homes a year target would seem like a poor start. The Government don’t build houses they are at the mercy of developers who influence policy by donations or by promising housing ministers a nice well paid non-job once they leave office as long as they toe the line. The housing we need is affordable housing for single people and smaller families, housing tailored to the needs of an increasingly ageing population and social housing at affordable rents. We don’t need more 4 bedroom mock Tudor “executive” houses on estates called “The Meadows” or “The Grange”. However, that is where the profit lies for the developers so that is what we get. Also developers don’t want to build on brown field sites as it eats into their profits they prefer to gobble up Green Belt buying it up at agricultural rates and getting Councils to give them planning permission, then enjoying a 40 or 50 times uplift in land value. The land is then an appreciating asset so why bother to build on it while it is sitting there making money for you?. It is a sad fact that 40% of sites with planning permission never get built on. When developers actually do build, they do it slowly to keep prices up and move heaven and earth to avoid contributing to the extra infrastructure that is needed to support their houses. There are plenty of consultants around to help them dodge section 106 and CIL payments towards infrastructure and they are only up against local Councils who mostly are pretty hapless and cave in at the mere hint of a Court battle.
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