- A collapse of nearly 50 per cent in the number of affordable home ownership properties built over the past year, compared with the last year of the last Labour Government.
- The affordable homes for rent built for those in need last year was just 2 per cent of those needed – it would take at least 55 years to clear waiting lists at current rates.
Emma Reynolds will announce new plans to make tackling the housing crisis a national priority under the next Labour Government and more help for small and medium-sized builders to get Britain building. The next Labour Government will:
- Establish a new cross-government task force, to include all the major Whitehall departments, to drive a co-ordinated approach to increasing housing supply and tackling the housing crisis.
- Introduce fast-track planning on small sites of less than ten homes.
On the Conservative-led Government’s record on house building and home ownership, Emma Reynolds will say: "While the Tories say the housing market is back on track, the truth is they’ve presided over the lowest level of house building in peacetime since the 1920s. Now we learn that the number of affordable homes for aspiring first-time buyers has collapsed by a half and at current rates it would take more than half a century to build the homes for those most in need. If you’re one of the many struggling to get a home of your own, the Tories are failing you. But if you’re one of the privileged few with a home worth over 2 million pounds, the Tories are on your side."
On Labour's plan to tackle the housing crisis, Emma Reynolds will say: "Labour has set out the first serious plan in a generation for building homes at the scale and speed our nation needs. Our plan will see 200,000 homes built a year by 2020 so that everyone can have a decent home at a price they can afford. To achieve our ambition, the next Labour Government will make housing a national priority by establishing a cross-government task force to tackle the housing crisis. But we must do more and that is why we’ll introduce fast-track planning rules for small sites of less than 10 so that builders can get on and build the homes the next generation needs. Labour is committed to building more affordable homes to rent and buy which is why, as Ed Balls has said, the next Labour government will make housing a bigger priority within the existing capital settlement for the next Parliament."
