Last week's, the King’s Speech marked a significant milestone for the housing and construction industry, as the government pledged to “Get Britain Building”.

This commitment aims to tackle the housing crisis head-on, by accelerating construction and boosting economic growth with plans to prioritise housing targets, accelerate the delivery of high-quality infrastructure and introduce new legislation such as ending no-fault evictions.

We are optimistic about the future of housing but understand that funding plays a vital role in achieving the affordable housing goals which the Government has pledged to deliver.

Our Founding Partner, Danny Sutcliffe comments: “The principal barrier to development is not legislation or the planning system, but capacity and funding. Making new schemes stack up financially has become increasingly difficult as a result of labour and material shortages alongside the rise in borrowing rates. Since 1949 the private sector has delivered between 150,000-200,000 every year. If we want to increase this to 300,000 homes per annum, the public sector will need to fund 100,00 more homes each year. That is the only serious way to secure the scale of development and the number of truly affordable homes that the Government is pledged to deliver.”

You can read more about the industry response in the recent article from PBC Today: Housing targets and economic growth key focus of King's Speech | Planning, Building & Construction Today (pbctoday.co.uk)

We welcome these positive steps and are encouraged that the new Government is prioritising housing. Let’s hope this brings the change the affordable housing sector so desperately needs.