Shelter responds to Prime Minister's speech on housing

Polly Neate, CEO of Shelter, said: 'We welcome today’s speech for recognising the scale of our housing emergency, and the fact our current housebuilding system is clearly not fit for purpose.

'The prime minister has shown the government is willing to take on developers and challenge them over unfair practices that deny communities the affordable homes they need.

'The government has recognised that big developers alone can’t solve this crisis, and so we now need to see a more diverse sector by supporting housing associations and local authorities to build.

'We’ve been campaigning long and hard on viability assessments – a tool exploited by developers to wriggle out of building their fair share of affordable homes – so we’re pleased the government is listening, and taking steps to close the loophole.

'For councils to move beyond just approving planning permissions and actually start building themselves, they must be allowed to borrow more money – and be given ‘use it or lose it’ powers to get hold of land.

'Only by embracing a wider range of housebuilders and holding big developers to account can we provide the genuinely affordable homes we need to ease the housing crisis that’s gripping our country.'