Action desperately needed as homes shortfall approaches a million The country’s housing shortage is fast approaching one million homes, yet we are building less now than at any point since the Second World War. The stark statistic is revealed today in the HBF’s election manifesto and is a warning to MPs that they desperately need to wake up to the mounting housing crisis. Housing issues are now affecting every UK constituency and the social and economic impacts of an acute housing shortage become ever more apparent: Nearly 5m people on housing waiting lists and 1.6m children living in overcrowded, temporary or run down housing* Young people unable to buy a home and delaying starting a family Hundreds of thousands made redundant by the slow down On average a home built today would have to last for over 1,100 years because we are not building enough to replace it sooner The manifesto, which will be launched at tomorrow’s pre-election ‘Question Time’ style HBF conference featuring Housing Minister John Healey and his Conservative shadow Grant Shapps, outlines the steps that urgently need taking to increase supply; Make more land available for development Address the chronic lack of mortgage availability Reduce the crippling costs of central/local Government regulation that prevent many sites being built Maintain public funding to support housing delivery and the jobs it creates Speaking in advance of tomorrow’s conference HBF Executive Chairman Stewart Baseley said; “We have a desperate and growing housing crisis that just has to be addressed. But despite the shortfall of homes fast approaching a million, we are building less than at any time since the Second World War. The social and economic implications dictate that the new Parliament’s MPs must address the barriers to delivery as a matter of urgency.” Increasing housing delivery will benefit every area of the country and; Create hundreds of thousands of jobs Provide enough homes for our population Remove millions from poor quality living conditions Stimulate the economy. £1 spent generates nearly £3 in economic activity ---Ends--- For media enquiries, or to arrange an interview, please contact Steve Turner on 020 7960 1606 / 07919 307 760 or steve.turner@hbf.co.uk Notes to Editors: 1. The Home Builders Federation (HBF) is the principal representative body for private sector home builders and voice of the home building industry in England and Wales. The HBF’s 300 member firms account for some 80% of all new homes built in England and Wales in any one year, and include companies of all sizes, ranging from multi-national, household names through regionally based businesses to small local companies: www.hbf.co.uk 2. The HBFs ‘Question Time’ style conference will take place in Westminster from 0930 on Wednesday March 10. The first ‘Political’ debate will feature John Healey, Grant Shapps and Professor Christine Whitehead from LSE. The following ‘Economic’ debate will feature Michael Saunders (Citigroup), Ed Stansfield (Capital Economics) and John Stewart (HBF). Both will take a ‘Question Time’ format with questions from the floor and will be chaired by HBF Executive Chairman Stewart Baseley. There are limited journalist places available. For further info contact Steve Turner as above. 3. Click here to view the HBF’s Manifesto 2010 4. Click here to view HBF’s detailed Manifesto in full 5. In her review of housing in 2004, Kate Barker stated there was shortfall of some 450,000 homes. Assuming a need for 250,000 homes a year since, undersupply has been in the region of 40-5000 homes per year until 2007 and significantly more since then with an estimated shortfall of well over 100,000 for 2010 6. *Statistics on Local Authority waiting lists/ children from Shelter 7. GDP statistic from ‘Construction in the UK economy’ a report by LEK Consulting for the UK Contractors Group
