South West Housing Initiative

SOUTH WEST HOME-HOPERS HAVE LITTLE TO CELEBRATE!

South West housing partnership responds to new figures on house-prices, home-building, and second-home ownership

Thousands of South West people, hoping to find a home, will have taken no cheer from the latest announcements about new home completions, house-prices, and second-home ownership in the region.

This is the view of the South West Housing Initiative, this region‘s unique partnership of housing providers, housing professions, and employers.

The past week has seen announcements that house-prices in the South West remain among the highest in the country, despite a slight dip, and that the region now has among the nation‘s biggest concentrations of second-homes. In addition, only half the new homes needed in the region were built in the last year.

That week also saw the announcement, by the Chartered Institute of Housing, that the South West is seeing a tsunami of “in-betweeners” – people who cannot afford to buy a home and do not qualify for social rented housing.

These announcements coincide with the new coalition government‘s scrapping of house-building targets under the Regional Spatial Strategy, resulting in some South West councils cutting many thousands of homes from their targets.

According to the South West Housing Initiative, these announcements underline the dire need for more new housing to be built in the region.

“For some years, this region has suffered Britain‘s biggest housing crisis outside London”, said Richard Kitson, Chairman of the SWHI.

“At the heart of this crisis is the region‘s biggest affordability gap between average earnings and average house-prices, and the biggest gap between demand for housing and the delivery of new homes – now at its lowest level for decades.

“There is an acute shortage of homes in the South West, and figures just released show that only 12,500 new homes were built in the past year, compared with a need for at least 25,000”, he added.

“By withdrawing the housing plans in the Regional Spatial Strategy, geared to the need for new and affordable homes, the new government has put the onus on local councils to deliver the homes needed in their area. In truth, this will be a major challenge for those councils.

“Local councils often come under sustained lobbying by local electors opposed to new homes, and we have to convince those people that those new homes are really needed”, said Mr Kitson.

Meanwhile, the South West‘s housing drought is a dire threat to the region‘s economy.

“It is no accident that employment bodies like the CBI and the TUC are active members of the SWHI: this region‘s economic prospects are reliant on employees being able to find an affordable home within commuting distance of their job.

“Right now, all the trends are making it more difficult for key workers, in both private and public sectors, to find those affordable homes in this region”, said Mr Kitson.

The SWHI is now urging local councils in the South West to respond to the consultation on proposed government financial incentives to provide new homes.

“We agree with the Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, that this crisis must be tackled if we are to provide decent homes for our young people, and enable our employers to attract and retain the people who will underpin the region‘s economy. We have to hope that proposed incentives will be enough to persuade local councils to provide the housing that enables the region‘s young people to stay in the South West – and sustain our economy”.

ENDS            23rd August 2010

NOTES TO EDITOR:

The South West Housing Initiative is a unique partnership of the region‘s home-builders, housing professions, and employers - including:
•   Home Builders Federation (HBF), representing private home-builders;
•   National Housing Federation (NHF), representing housing associations;
•   Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH)
•   Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
•   Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI)
•   Shelter
•   Confederation of British Industry (CBI)
•   The Law Society

For further information, please contact Richard Kitson, on
Home: 01985-844803 or Mobile: 07889-755639

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