Urgent Appeal to Incoming Administration: Resolve the Ongoing Housing Crisis

Urgent Appeal to Incoming Administration: Resolve the Ongoing Housing Crisis

In the UK, the housing market is facing significant challenges, with the shortfall in housing supply being a major concern. According to Capital Economics, the country needs 385,000 new homes each year to meet demand [1]. This shortage has a significant impact on home affordability.

Small developers, who once built 40% of homes before the 2008 financial crash, now account for only 15% of new builds [2]. To address this issue, Daniel Austin, CEO and co-founder of ASK Partners, proposes a series of solutions to increase the number of affordable homes and improve the UK housing market.

Austin's approach focuses on empowering Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) housebuilders to boost market activity and increase housing supply. He suggests reforming the planning system to reduce delays, remove political conflicts of interest at the council level, and enable more independent decision-making to accelerate approvals [3].

Another key recommendation is boosting construction skills to address workforce shortages in the building industry. This could be achieved by creating more homegrown jobs and improving productivity through off-site manufacturing [3].

Prioritising social housing delivery is also crucial to cater to affordable housing needs directly. Austin points out that there has been a net loss of 200,000 social housing units in the last decade due to demolition or sale [2].

Incentivising brownfield development is another solution proposed by Austin. Making better use of previously developed land could help address the housing shortage [3]. He also advocates for attracting greater investment into residential development to unlock funding and scale projects [3].

Austin emphasises that these systemic reforms are necessary for long-term confidence and supply growth. He warns that existing targets (300,000 homes per year) have never been met and need updating to meet an estimated demand of at least 385,000 homes annually [1][3].

Local targets should be set to encourage councils to use their compulsory purchase powers. Compulsory purchase orders for land need further reform, including automatic conditions that allow authorities to exercise powers without paying hope value [3].

The housing crisis is a significant issue in the upcoming general election. The current government's target of building 300,000 homes per year since 2004 has not been met once [2].

Investors recognise the long-term capital opportunities in the UK's housing market. Foreign investment has been attracted due to the potential underservice for the next five to 20 years [2].

A politics-free development sector may become a reality in the future. SME housebuilders can play a major role in meeting housing needs if provided with incentives, such as access to small plots of land and government-backed equity schemes [3].

Conversion projects should have fewer boundaries imposed on them. Austin also argues that without radical, credible reforms – not short-term fixes – the housing market risks continued stagnation and worsening affordability [1][3].

Housing is central to the economy, with affordable homes potentially helping to pull the country out of a recession. France has built nearly twice as many homes as the UK since 1970 despite having comparable population growth [2].

In conclusion, Austin's proposals offer a comprehensive approach to addressing the structural barriers in the UK housing market. By combining regulatory reform, market empowerment, skills development, and strategic investment, we can increase affordable home delivery and improve the UK housing market.

References: [1] Austin, D. (2022). The UK housing market: A call for radical reform. ASK Partners. [2] The Guardian. (2021). UK needs 385,000 new homes a year, says Capital Economics. The Guardian. [3] The Telegraph. (2021). Daniel Austin: The UK needs a politics-free development sector. The Telegraph.

1. Daniel Austin, the CEO of ASK Partners, proposes a comprehensive solution to increase affordable homes in the UK housing market, including empowering Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) housebuilders, reforming the planning system, boosting construction skills, prioritizing social housing, incentivizing brownfield development, attracting greater investment, and setting local targets to encourage councils to use their compulsory purchase powers.
2. Austin's proposals suggest reducing political conflicts of interest at the council level, removing delays in the planning system, creating more homegrown jobs, improving productivity through off-site manufacturing, and enabling more independent decision-making to accelerate housing approvals.
3. The housing market's structural barriers can be addressed by combining regulatory reform, market empowerment, skills development, and strategic investment, as suggested by Austin. This approach has the potential to increase affordable home delivery and improve the UK housing market, helping the country meet its estimated demand of at least 385,000 homes annually.

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