{"id":111212,"date":"2026-08-26T05:59:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T05:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/111212\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T05:59:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T05:59:15","slug":"britain-has-an-acute-housing-crisis-says-housing-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/111212\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain has an \u201cacute housing crisis\u2019\u2026 says housing minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/thenegotiatorawards.evessiocloud.com\/thenegotiatorawards2026\/en\/page\/all-the-categories\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"The Negotiator Enter Now advert\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The-Negotiator-Deadline-Extended_Leaderboard-Desktop_1700x180px.gif\" alt=\"The Negotiator Enter Now advert\" width=\"1700\" height=\"180\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-204524 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Matthew-Pennycook.jpg\" alt=\"Matthew Pennycook\" width=\"730\" height=\"455\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Britain has an \u201cacute and entrenched housing crisis\u201d, the housing minister has said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Speaking on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/b006qj9z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Radio 4\u2019s Today Programme<\/a>, Matthew Pennycook revealed that the Government needed \u201cdo more\u201d to solve the crisis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">In particular, he said a massive council homes building programme is required.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">However, he declined to specify exactly when spades in the ground would be seen, saying it would depend on each individual provider.<\/p>\n<p>We have an acute and entrenched housing crisis in this country. We have got to do more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Last year, he claimed that 64,000 new council homes were delivered, the highest rate since 2014 to 2015.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">He said: \u201cCouncil house building fell off a cliff in the 1980s due to Right to Buy. We have done a lot to reinvigorate council house building but we have got to more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">\u201cWe are making more funding available through our \u00a339billion Social and Affordable Housing Programme.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">\u201cThe Prime Minister wants to see the biggest council homes drive since rates fell off in the early 1980s.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">He added: \u201cHousing targets are in place and they have an important role. We have an acute and entrenched housing crisis in this country. We have got to do more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">\u201cFunding is going out through the door. It will see homes delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">He explained that the current injection of grant funding will help private market sites build out and \u201cget things moving\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>House building<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Speaking about the 1.5 million building market target, he described it as a \u201cstretching target\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>It follows <a href=\"https:\/\/thenegotiator.co.uk\/news\/land-new-homes\/rayner-likens-housing-target-to-challenging-sub-five-hour-marathon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Angela Rayner<\/a> speaking on the same radio programme earlier this month, when she has compared meeting the target to build 1.5 million new homes like her \u201crunning the marathon in under five hours\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>She said: \u201cI\u2019m going to keep the 1.5 million target, but it is like me saying that I\u2019m going to run the London Marathon in under five hours. That would be a real challenge for me, but I\u2019ll do it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m straight-talking, 1.5 million homes is a difficult target. I made the target. But I\u2019m going to keep the target and I\u2019m not going to be defeated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<br clear=\"all\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain has an \u201cacute and entrenched housing crisis\u201d, the housing minister has said. Speaking on Radio 4\u2019s Today&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,1467,6688,9185],"class_list":["post-111212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","tag-britain","tag-house-building","tag-housing-crisis","tag-matthew-pennycook"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117160284373974126","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}