Report calls for 300,000 homes to be built annually

A RADICAL overhaul of UK house building could pull the UK out of recession, encourage investment, generate tens of thousands of new jobs and address the chronic shortage of homes.

That is the view of the Future Homes Commission, which has released a new report on the way the UK builds new homes.

It recommends an increase in the number of new homes built every year, to more than 300,000, on brownfield land and close to almost every city, town and village in the UK.

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To achieve this, it calls for an independently-managed £10bn local housing development fund, financed with 15 per cent of the assets of the largest local authority pension funds.

It also recommends better-designed homes to meet residents’ needs now and in the future, as well as a housing market more focused on consumers with reliable, comprehensive information for buyers.

According to the report, local authorities should use their new powers to create sustainable communities, meet their communities’ housing needs and ensure a good return on their investments.

Sir John Banham, chairman of the Future Homes Commission, said: “We strongly believe that local government can become the leader of new development once again, by using their assets and powers to create the type of mature, sustainable, mixed tenure communities that Britain needs and that institutional and international investors want to invest in.”

The report has been backed by the Royal Institute of British Architects, particularly for its focus on the long-term use of new houses.