The industry is urging politicians and a national and London wide level to work together and prioritise an increase in house delivery, which they say is the only way to solve the biggest threat to London’s future social and economic prosperity.
Land is the key, according to the House Builders Federation. It says that with local elections coming up later this month those who are elected need to act quickly to work with neighbouring boroughs and the Mayor of London to identify and bring forward land quickly so that house builders can build the homes London needs.
More land needs to be identified for development, including significant amounts of surplus public land that politicians have direct control over. The bureaucratic and cumbersome planning process also needs to be more efficient to accelerate the rate at which land comes forward such that the industry can build at a rate to meet the level of demand.
London has a desperate shortage of homes. Nearly 50,000 families in the capital are now in temporary accommodation, three times more than in the rest of England combined, and a figure set to grow as London’s population increases.
A lack of housing is also now seen as the biggest threat to London’s economy, with employers citing employee’s inability to source housing as a reason not to invest.
Building the homes needed would also provide a significant economic boost. Increasing build rates to the 42,000 homes a year target set by the Mayor would create and sustain an additional 40,000 jobs in the capital on building sites, including many for young people, and 25,000 jobs in the supply chain in the wider South East region.
To make this target a reality, house builders are telling politicians to ensure that putting in place a long term plan to help tackle the housing crisis is prioritised and put above party politics.
They want them to commit to ensuring that the number of new homes being built is at the level required by the borough’s future household projections and help to identify and allocate sufficient land for development.
They also want them to ensure that planning obligations are set at realistic levels that do not threaten the viability of new housing and work with the industry to reduce the number of unnecessary conditions attached to planning consents in order to get sites built out earlier.
‘London is now facing an acute and worsening housing crisis. If we are to provide the homes we need for London to prosper, politicians must urgently prioritise housing provision. Local, regional and national politicians have to start working together to develop policies that allow house building sites to come forward. Politicians need to identify and bring forward land quickly if builders are to build the homes London needs,’ said Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation.
‘The social and economic implications for London are becoming ever more apparent. More and more people are living in temporary accommodation, whilst businesses see employees’ inability to find decent homes as a deterrent to investment. Building new homes will provide decent accommodation for London’s population whilst creating tens of thousands of jobs,’ he explained.
‘Providing the homes London needs will ensure the capital remains a world leading city where people want to live and businesses want to invest. House builders want to play their part in delivering the London of the future, but need politicians to work with them to enable desperately needed homes to be built,’ he added.
