Only Labour will build homes for the next generation

By Hilary Benn and Emma Reynolds

When work on Milton Keynes, the last new town built in England, started in 1967 it would have been hard to imagine that this country could ever face another housing crisis. That year alone 342,000 homes were completed.

But since then the number of new homes being built across our country has steadily dwindled to the point where this government is presiding over the lowest level of house building in peacetime since the 1920s. Just 115,000 homes were completed over the past year which isn’t even half the number of homes we need to keep up with demand. By 2020 there will be a shortage of over 2 million homes across the country.

As a result one in four young adults are living at home with their parents into their thirties and there are 1.6 million families in the queue for a social home. Unless we do something to act, the next generation won’t be able to secure a decent affordable home of their own.

That’s why on a visit to Milton Keynes today, Ed Miliband launched the Lyons Housing Report, which is the first comprehensive and radical plan to tackle the housing crisis, developed by any political party, in a generation. We are committed to getting 200,000 homes built a year by 2020 and a long term goal that will see us double the number of first-time buyers within a decade and meet housing need for the first time in fifty years.

Our plan is clear about the causes of this crisis and how we can tackle them. We don’t release enough land for development. We have a dysfunctional land market that leads to a focus on land trading and speculation rather than building. And our capacity to build homes both public and private has shrunk dramatically.

The Lyons Report is therefore recommending far-reaching changes to the way the housing market works and a clear roadmap for how the next Labour Government can hit the ground running on day one.

First, we will ensure that councils produce a plan for homebuilding in their area and allocate sufficient land for development to meet the needs of people in the area. Part of any deal must begin by ensuring local authorities are planning, and delivering the land, for the homes their communities need. No council should be allowed to duck their responsibility to meet the housing needs of the local community they serve.

Second, there is too much focus on land speculation and even where planning permission has been given the homes don’t always get built.Too often, people don’t feel that the right kind of homes are getting built in the places they want. So we will give local councils the power to designate new ‘Housing Growth Areas’ which will have powers to assemble land and give certainty that building will take place. With these powers they will be able to deliver the affordable homes and provide the essential infrastructure like GP surgeries, green spaces, schools, and roads that their communities need. We’ll also enable communities to charge developers where planning permission has been given but there is no activity on the site, with in the most serious cases a ‘use it or lose it’ power to compulsorily purchase the site and sell it on to someone who will build.

Third, we’ll increase competition in the housing industry by backing small and medium sized buildings companies to build more homes through a Help to Build scheme which will allow them to access lower cost bank lending supported by Exchequer guarantees, and through a simpler planning system for smaller developments of 10 homes and under.

Fourth, we will set up a rolling programme to deliver new Garden Cities over a 20 year period and offer financial incentives and freedoms for local authorities within the scheme, such as retaining 100% of business rates for 30 years and Treasury guarantees for development corporations, to attract investment in infrastructure and services for the area. As part of this programme, we will develop large scale Garden Suburbs which the review has found could unlock up to 500,000 homes.

Fifth, we’ll help councils and housing associations to build more homes. We will invest more in affordable housing. As Ed Miliband and Ed Balls have said, housing will be a key priority for additional capital investment in the next parliament. We’ll also extend the affordable homes guarantee programme, speed up the use of public land and make provision for councils to have greater flexibility to deliver social homes.

Finally, we’ll ensure these reforms benefit the next generation. In our new ‘Housing Growth Areas’ first time buyers from the area will get priority when these new homes go on sale. Local authorities will be able to reserve a proportion of homes built for first-time buyers for a period of two months.  In addition, local authorities will be able to restrict the sale of homes in these areas so they cannot be sold for buy-to-let or buy-to-leave empty properties.

Tackling the housing crisis is one of the biggest challenges we face as a country. It will take time, determination and leadership to overcome it and we must be honest that there are no quick fixes. But unlike the Tories who offer nothing but gimmicks, Labour has a detailed and ambitious plan to tackle the deep and underlying causes of this crisis in the next parliament and beyond.

From day one of the next Labour Government, our priority will be implementing that plan so everyone can have a decent home at a price they can afford.​

Hilary Benn is the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Emma Reynolds is Labour’s Shadow Housing Minister