The government says that 1.3 million families are on social housing waiting lists, while a record number – including 160,000 children – are in temporary accommodation. Millions of people also cannot afford to buy their first home.
The government’s aim is for 370,000 new homes to be built in England every year to hit its promise of 1.5 million by 2029. To aid this, local authorities are being told to give developers permission to build.
Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) figures released in March suggested housebuilding would fall short of the 1.5 million target, even with planning reforms previously outlined in the Spring Statement.
The government argued that further reforms not reflected in the OBR forecast would help it reach the number.
Separate OBR figures previously showed housebuilding was set to hit a 40-year high and boost the economy by £6.8bn by 2029.
The government said large housing developments, producing more than 2,000 homes, can take at least 14 years to build, but those with more affordable homes can be built twice as fast.
It said it would therefore test a new requirement for large developments to be mixed tenure – meaning a range of housing options – by default in an effort to build homes, including more affordable homes, quicker.
Shadow housing secretary Kevin Hollinrake claimed that “many hardworking Brits will be shut out of the housing market forever” as “Labour’s open door border policy” meant “many of these houses will end up going to migrants”.
He added: “In the same week that Angela Rayner has been caught red-handed plotting to raise everyone’s taxes, it’s clear she doesn’t have the interests of working people at heart.”