Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has renewed the government’s commitment to building 1.5m new homes Labour promised in its election manifesto.
Rayner insisted on Sunday that there are “no excuses” to not build the volume of new homes pledged by the government by 2029, before the next general election.
Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Rayner said Labour knew achieving the target “was going to be really difficult”, given housebuilding trends before it entered government – but said she was determined to meet it.
The housing, communities and local government secretary said that within a month of taking office, she was asked if she wanted to review Labour’s housing target.
“I wasn’t going to give up on the target,” she said.
Rayner added that she was personally “determined to meet that 1.5 million target” and said policies such as reforming the planning system would “take time” to have an impact.
She added: “There are no excuses to not build those homes that people desperately need.
“And we mean business on this, because far too many people are not getting these homes.”
Gillian Keegan, a former Conservative MP and education secretary, told the programme the pace of housebuilding was “too slow”.
She said the Conservatives had also promised to build more than 1.5 million new homes in its 2024 election manifesto, adding that the party had made “a lot of progress” when in government “but the reality is, it’s still too slow”.
“The highest number we got to was about 249,000 in one year,” she said.
“Now obviously we had to navigate Brexit, Covid and a war in Europe at the time.
“But that shows you the size of the challenge.”
The housing industry has expressed doubts about Labour’s housing target and whether it can be reached by 2029.
Nevertheless, Rayner’s reassurance on building 1.5m new homes has been welcomed as a positive step in the right direction by Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark.
He commented: “As the population of the UK continues to expand, it is vital we start to see targeted plans drawn up and implemented in regions where new housing is most needed.
“It is essential that full attention is turned to implementing legislation that allows for this ambition to become a reality, and that there is wide-ranging engagement to ensure all plans bring the correct levels of infrastructure and help deliver a balanced housing mix on a regional basis. Ultimately, to keep pace, there will need to be almost thirty thousand new homes constructed every month before summer 2029.”
“We also welcome plans to help speed up the buying and selling process via the proposal of making better use of technology. The housing sector will benefit enormously from digitisation, such commitment will ultimately bring vast consumer value and help streamline systems that have long needed progression.”
Shall I be the one to point out that this Gov is already one tenth of its way through this term?
And, they’ve achieved………
Yep,. Nothing.
So, the target isn’t now 300k homes per year. It’s higher.
Wait however, because any reform that isn’t really even started yet is at least six months away (optimism on a Monday) and so it’s 1.5m divided by 4 years. Which I do believe is 375k homes per year for the remaining period.
A figure that is fantastical.
But, really, Angela your ‘target’ is even more fubar than that. We all know that PP’s on the back of whatever reform you can implement are at least 6 months.
Therefore in reality you’re already down to 3 years to deliver 1.5m homes. 500k per year from 2026 onwards. A figure NEVER before achieved. Our highest ever figure was a lot less than this and was in the late sixties.
Angela.
To have had years to prepare only to arrive with nothing…. Not impressive.
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The Government does not build houses. She is living in the land above cloud cuckoo land.
And a few days ago, Miliband on national news, looking crazed and explaining why tenants will be better off when he forces their landlord to spend up to £15,000 to meet EPC by 2030.
Between him and Raynor, they are going to do some serious damage.
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The Gov. believe tenants will be better off living in the streets because that is where many will be if their landlord can’t afford to spend thousands on trying to gain a C. It is the tenants who live in older properties paying the least rent who will suffer. The average for many landlords works out at 2 years rent. Who can afford to spend this amount? In many cases the tenant will have to move out while the work is done and the property will be relet at a much higher rent.
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In fairnss, he always looks crazed.
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Regarding the landlords∆ comment
You don’t see what’s happening here?
Gov promises this reform with EPC certs to provide a sliver of incentive to housebuilders. Don’t forget all the new builds they want over the next 3-5 years will be built to rentable spec.
They need landlords to junk their current stock and buy the new stock when it’s built.
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Rayner appears to also be ignoring that migration figures show that we will need more than 1.5m homes within the period she is suggesting anyway. So, solve the housing crisis they will not! I am keen to understand statistically how many of these homes will be affordable (and by what methods they are deemed as such) and social housing which are in the very much needed bracket.
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The only reason we have an ‘affordable’ issue is because supply hasn’t met demand for decades.
The issues that were surfacing with such clarity in the early noughties were never addressed. They only got worse.
Ever higher borrowing multiples and the relaxation of criteria (such as we saw with self cert) has ensured the bubble grew. While further disincentivising builders to build more.
Right now we don’t just need planning reforms. We need incentives to build. The carrot as well as the stick.
Smaller builders need the wheels greasing for them.
Until we find a way to build 400k/year minimum then earnings won’t catch up. The old sensible multiples will remain consigned to history.
This above, it’s a multi decade solution. The bubble cannot be pricked. The damage would be too great. However we have governments that think in 5 year terms.
Nobody has the balls to be both honest, and truly forward thinking.
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