The Chancellor must harness the productivity and creativity of the housing industry with the scale and power of government, according to the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH). Speaking yesterday at Housing 2013, CIH’s annual conference and exhibition in Manchester, CIH chief executive Grainia Long said: “To the Chancellor – imagine what we could achieve by matching the productivity and creativity of the housing industry with the scale and power of government. Let us work with you to develop the economic growth this country so badly needs.”
She added: “Today's(Wednesday 26 June) spending round provides a rare opportunity for a game changer. I hope that we will leave this conference with the recognition that housing is a critically important form of infrastructure. Its crucial role has been ignored for too long and we are now living with the consequences. We simply cannot go on as we are.
“The lesson of history is that since the Second World War we have only built the numbers of homes we need when government has built at scale to complement the work of housing providers.
“A housing supply crisis is not a stable basis for economic growth. To fix our economy we must fix our housing system.
“Our economy could improve rapidly if government steps up to the mark, and works in partnership with the industry to deliver.”
Grainia Long said the government could stimulate house building by investing in social and affordable housing and raising local authority borrowing caps, while housing organisations must play their part by raising private finance; showing the drive and innovation needed to get new homes built in a difficult environment; and continually looking for opportunities to raise standards, reduce costs and speed up delivery
She said recent government announcements to increase demand must be matched with measures that stimulate house building. She said: “If not we will entrench the misery and disadvantage that a failing housing system creates.”
An Ipsos MORI poll commissioned by CIH and released at the weekend found that almost a quarter of people who pay rent or mortgage in Great Britain are worried about being able to pay right now, while one in three are worried they won’t be able to pay this time next year. Grainia Long said: “Add the likelihood of interest rate rises in the future and I suspect these figures will become dramatically worse. This is what a housing crisis looks like.”