Britain needs more houses
Panel sets out 20-year home building plan
LONDON: Britain needs to build 3.1 million new homes in the next 20 years to solve its housing crisis, a commission set up in the wake of London’s Grenfell Tower disaster said.
The fire that killed at least 71 people in a social block in one of London’s most affluent areas in 2017 triggered outrage, with campaigners saying successive governments had neglected a growing shortage of adequate housing.
Homelessness charity Shelter brought together Grenfell groups with lawmakers from different parties and housing experts to compile recommendations that will be presented to political leaders and include a 20-year home building programme.
“Today’s landmark commission sets out a bold new plan for social housing which aims to tackle this crisis head on,” Greg Beales, campaign director at Shelter, told journalists. “Building on this scale will give hope to everyone who is seriously struggling with their housing situation.”
Housing Minister James Brokenshire said in a statement that providing quality and fair social housing was “a priority for this government”, which would deliver 250,000 affordable homes by 2022, including homes for social rent.
Britain has experienced a shortage of social housing since the 1980s when the government allowed tenants to buy their homes at rock-bottom prices without replacing the stock.
Since then, years of underbuilding, rising rents and cuts to social-housing benefits have exacerbated the problem.
Prime Minister Theresa May has said the government will seek to build 300,000 more homes a year until the mid-2020s to try to address a broader supply shortage that has pushed prices up.