Three key changes Rachel Reeves can take to tackle nation's housing emergency: Nick Atkin

Housing is a national emergency. And yet we’re still treating it as if it can be solved with short-term plans – it can’t. The crisis is getting worse every day. That’s why it needs a serious, long-term response from Government right now.

This crisis is not going to solve itself. It’s the result of decades of underinvestment in social housing and we’re now dealing with the consequences. More people in temporary accommodation. More people at risk of homelessness. More children growing up without space to play or do their schoolwork.

This is not just a housing issue. It’s an economic and social one too. People in our region are paying the price, not just in high private rents but in their physical and mental health, in their children’s futures, and in their ability to build a solid and prosperous future.

In our towns and villages, in our cities and coastal communities, people are stuck in unsuitable housing because there simply aren’t enough genuinely safe and affordable homes to go around.

That’s why the four housing partnerships across Yorkshire’s devolved regions, alongside our counterparts in Greater Manchester, Merseyside and the southwest of England who between them manage 1.7 million homes, have come together for the first time to urge the Government to act decisively in the Spending Review.

We are calling for three key changes.

Firstly, we’re calling for housing investment to be treated as infrastructure spending to put an end to the stop-start cycle of funding. A safe, affordable home is as essential to our economy and society as roads, railways and hospitals. Access to affordable housing underpins everything, and without more investment we cannot unlock economic growth, the Government’s “number one mission”.

Investing in genuinely affordable homes makes financial sense. Research from Shelter and the National Housing Federation shows that building 90,000 social rented homes a year could boost the economy by over £51 billion. On the other hand, poor-quality housing is costing the NHS a staggering £1.4 billion a year. The link is clear. Building good housing leads to better health, more jobs and a stronger economy.

Secondly, we need long-term funding certainty. Housing associations need a clear financial framework so we can plan for the next decade, not just the next 12 months.

That means a 10-year rent settlement that includes convergence and gives us the confidence to invest in new homes and upgrade the ones we already have.

Finally, we need to cut through the red tape. At the moment, housing associations face a cocktail of complex and overlapping funding pots. It slows us down. It wastes money.

And it makes it harder to get homes built. Worse still, it creates vulnerability for the construction sector, leaving small contractors struggling to survive, and the wider supply chain in a state of constant uncertainty. So, we are calling for two simple funding streams. One for building new homes. One for improving existing ones. That’s it.

This approach will allow us to move at the speed the crisis demands. The Spending Review is a chance for the Government to step up and treat this crisis with the urgency it deserves.

Nick Atkin is chief executive of Yorkshire Housing