Labour will get Britain building to get the next generation on to the property ladder

Emma Reynolds, Labour’s Shadow Housing Minister, will today set out Labour’s plans to boost Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) builders, which the party says will tackle the housing crisis and help the next generation on to the property ladder. Speaking in Parliament at the Federation of Master Builders Pre-Election Debate, she will accuse the Tory-led Government of letting families down by failing to build the homes our country needs.

Emma Reynolds will reveal new figures which she claims show:

• A daily housing gap of 356 homes: 
• since 2010, 356 fewer homes have been built every day compared with what families need.
• As a result, levels of overcrowding have reached the highest level for nearly two decades in this Parliament with 652,000 households currently overcrowded.

At the event, designed to highlight the role of small builders and the construction sector, she will also highlight figures which Labour say show: The proportion of homes built by SME builders has fallen from 34 per cent to 27 per cent since 2010, with a loss of an estimated 1,131 SME builders. Emma Reynolds will unveil a package of measures which Labour say will boost housebuilding, including SME builders and help the next generation on to the property ladder. The Labour proposals include:

• A Help to Build scheme which will allow SMEs to access lower-cost bank lending supported by Treasury guarantees.
• A requirement for Local Authorities to include a higher proportion of small sites in their five-year land supply.
• The introduction of fast-track planning on small sites of less than ten homes.

Emma Reynolds is expected to say: "We are not even building half the number of homes that we need to keep up with demand. A record number of young people in their twenties and thirties are living at home with their parents. Many young people and families are priced out of home ownership and some of these families are living in overcrowded conditions. Every day we are building 356 fewer homes than we need because the Tories have presided over the lowest levels of housebuilding in peacetime since the 1920s.

Ms Reynolds is also expected to say: "We need a more diverse and competitive housing market to build the homes we need but in recent years small builders have fallen into decline. Labour will boost small builders, increase house building and help make home ownership a realistic aspiration for the next generation. Labour is committed to building many more homes which is why we will get 200,000 homes built a year by 2020, creating up to 230,000 jobs.”