Call for huge rise in home building

The UK needs a threefold increase in the number of new homes to help end the “blight” of poor housing, a report has concluded.
By The Newsroom
Published 26th Oct 2012, 07:00 BST

The study by the Future Homes Commission, a body instigated by the Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba), called for 300,000 extra homes to be built every year on brownfield land and sections close to virtually every city, town and village in a “housing revolution”.

The proposals would not cost “an extra penny” of Government spending or debt providing “the dysfunctional way we build homes is radically overhauled”, while creating tens of thousands of new jobs and encouraging investment, the report said.

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It suggested local authorities lead the plans by securing rental housing developments on behalf of their taxpayers by pooling their assets to provide communities with better homes.

An independently-managed £10bn Local Housing Development Fund would kick-start the scheme and would be financed and owned by the largest Local Authority pension fund.

The report also called for a greater focus on design in all new homes to ensure they met residents’ needs, making them fit for future generations and attractive to UK and international investors to allow the Local Authority pension funds to recycle their investment. Other suggested changes included a more “consumer-oriented” housing market providing reliable information to buyers.