Steve Stride said that whatever the outcome of May’s election, many households will still be in need of housing. CIH is part of the Homes for Britain campaign, which is calling on all parties to commit to ending the crisis within a generation – and for the victor to publish a long-term plan for doing so within a year of taking office.
He commented: “Whoever is in government, over a million households will be waiting for a place they can call home and that they can afford. Only radical intervention can increase housing supply to the level it needs to be at. We are demanding that our politicians recognise that they must do more.”
Adding that it was the responsibility of the housing industry to drive the message home: “With fewer than 100 days to go to polling day, all of us have a duty to focus the power of our sector to leave no politician in any doubt about the impact of this housing crisis.”
Mr Stride went on to urge the government to build more homes for social rent as well as looking at new ways of increasing standards in the PRS.
He finished off by suggesting that the new government should make regeneration a priority: “We have the exciting progress of ‘Devo Met’-led regeneration in Manchester and now Sheffield. The new Housing Zones programme is a vital first step in a new national regeneration era. Our task is to persuade the government that local regeneration is the right policy at the right time. It offers a solution not only for the housing crisis but health, education and employment issues too.
It’s time for a regeneration renaissance.”
