Skip links
Published on: Development

Million Homes Target Unviable?

A recent article in the Times reported that more than half of English housebuilders believe the government’s target to provide 1 million homes by 2020 is not achievable.

Reasons cited include a shortage of skills, shortage of land, delays in the planning process and 29% of respondents said that the inability of the scheme to generate a profit was a major factor in delaying the provision of new homes.

There is a huge amount of politicking swirling around the housing provision issue. Over the years housebuilders have been asked to enforce a “land-tax-by-stealth” in order that government of whatever colour can avoid being directly associated with such an unpopular counter-productive and historically unenforceable policy.

Surely the answer is for the government to build affordable housing and let the housebuilders get on with providing the rest of the housing need.

Leave a comment