This content applies to England only.

For many years there has been a failure to build the new homes that are needed, and by 2008, the number of new homes being started had fallen to its lowest peacetime level since 1924. [1]

There is a chronic shortfall of affordable, including social rented homes and this is likely to be exacerbated as a result of demographic changes and more people choosing to live alone.

The affordability crisis

This shortage of homes caused house prices to rise rapidly for more than a decade, so that even with the recent drop in prices, many first-time buyers are still priced out of the market in most areas of the country. At the same time there is a chronic shortage of social rented housing, with nearly 1.8 million households on local authority housing waiting lists. [2]

In 2003, the Government commissioned economist Kate Barker to undertake a review of housing supply in the UK, and recommend what needed to be done to tackle Britain’s housing shortage. Her report concluded that there were a number of barriers preventing enough homes from being built to meet rising demand. These included the challenges associated with developing brownfield land and the constraints of existing infrastructure. The report recommended that these be tackled to reduce house price increases to more sustainable levels.

Empty homes

According to figures collected by the CLG,  there are more than 787,000 empty homes in England. Empty homes are a waste of scarce housing stock and can attract crime and vandalism.

Most empty homes are privately owned. Councils do have legal powers to force owners to bring properties into use, but as they are often very short of resources this can be a slow and difficult process.

Shelter strongly supports the aim of bringing these dwellings back into use to ease some of the pressure on existing stock. However, using empty homes is only part of the solution to Britain’s housing crisis. To meet the full housing backlog more homes must be built for those in the greatest need.

Shelter’s view

Shelter strongly supports the target set by the Government to build three million additional homes in England by 2020. We also support the Government’s commitment to increase the number of social rented homes built to 45,000 per year by 2010/11. [3]

However, we believe that the Government needs to go even further than this to tackle the huge level of housing need that we currently face. In particular, we call upon the Government to set out ambitious targets for the number of social homes to be built between 2011 and 2020, and to make available the Government investment required to achieve these targets as part of the next spending round.

[1] Construction Products Association, Construction Industry Forecasts, Winter 2008/09, 2009

[2] Rents, Lettings and Tenancies, Live Tables, Table 600, www.communities.gov.uk

[3] Homes for the Future: More Affordable, More Sustainable. CLG 2007