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SOUTH WEST HOMES-SHORTAGE WORSENS

South West Housing Initiative calls for more new home-building

Latest figures show that only 13,840 new homes were built in the South West in 2009, well short of the number needed to cope with the increasing number of households in the region.

The region‘s number of completed new homes fell by 22% from the previous year, and was well below the average of around 18,000 a year being built earlier in the decade.

Meanwhile, the South West is creating the demand for more than 25,000 new households every year.

The region‘s growing housing-gap has been highlighted by the South West Housing Initiative, a unique partnership of house-builders, housing associations, housing professions, and employers – created to address the fact that the South West has the country‘s biggest housing crisis.

South West Housing Initiative Chairman, Richard Kitson, acknowledges that the fall was a consequence of the recession but urges that the trend must be reversed quickly.

“There has been heated debate about the new Planning Strategy for the Region, focused on whether we need 25,000, 27,000 or 30,000 new homes each year:  but we are a long way from achieving even the lowest of those figures.

“Right now, we are losing ground in helping people who desperately need a home. If the region is to rebuild a strong and vibrant economy, then employers need people who can afford to live in the region”, said Mr Kitson.

Another recent report showed that only about one third of people under 40 living in the south west could get onto the home-ownership ladder - and this is a reflection of the “homes shortage” said Mr Kitson.

The one positive to come out of the latest statistics was that the number of new affordable homes, mainly for rent, was almost as many as the previous year at 2,850.

“This region‘s local communities, and their local councils, must grasp the fact that opposition to new and affordable home-building will consign them to isolation, with key-workers in both public and private sectors unable to find a home”, said Mr Kitson.

“Right now, the South West‘s economy is poised for growth, but that potential will collapse if local workers cannot find or afford a local home”,  he warned.

The recent South West Housing Summit, staged by the South West Housing Initiative, underlined the need for the region to increase supply of new homes and called for additional investment in infrastructure and affordable housing to help sustain the local economies.

“We have to convince South West residents that a continuing shortage of homes will drive away the people they need to provide all the services they expect, such as teachers, nurses, and carers, as well as those who sustain the region‘s businesses, including people in leisure and tourism, shops, and farming, said Mr Kitson.

ENDS 1ST March 2010

For further information, contact David Sturgess at Sturgess Van Damme 01275 349 011  or email david@sturgessvandamme.co.uk