With the Renters Reform Bill having been the subject of much controversy (initially aiming to ban no-fault evictions, but later being accused of being watered down), Shadow Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner being given the shadow housing brief, and a quarter of British voters depicting housing as one of the top three most important issues facing the country according to a YouGov polling tracker, the upcoming election is not only likely to feature high levels of discussion on housing policy, but also likely to see considerable development post-General Election.
Setting the Scene: Housebuilding in 2019-24
Whilst housing policy and responsibility for delivery is devolved to local authorities, Westminster, the Senedd, Holyrood and Stormont have responsibility for overall strategy. The Conservatives, for instance, committed England to 300,000 new homes annualy by the mid-2020s, a target that has never been met.
Alongside housebuilding in and of itself, Levelling Up policies have fed in to a wider narrative of regeneration, and investing in high streets. Under their National Planning Policy Framework, the focus of housing policy has been reoriented towards local housing need, the role of beauty, the environment and energy, and strong local plans from local authorities. However, this plan has been criticised as one that that did not actually focus on building houses, nor giving local authorities the ability to create those houses themselves.
Statistically, population increases in the UK have massively outpaced housebuilding rates, since the 1980s, with those houses being built and bought leading to a decrease in the proportion of houses being social and affordable, decreasing.
Social Housing: The Focus of the Parties
With Homelessness charity Shelter calling for 90,000 social homes, and the selling off of council homes often being described as a major reason for the current housing crisis, it’s no surprise that parties across the political spectrum have advocated for social housing.
Whilst Labour have not given a number, they have put ‘social and council housing at the heart of Labour’s secure homes plan’. Meanwhile, the Conservatives have not yet given any figures (having missed their housebuilding targets in Government), on social housing, but has defended building the ‘right houses in the right places’, and prioritising UK families for social homes. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party have both committed to 150,000 social homes.
NIMBY, YIMBY and Somewhere in the Middle
Whilst the ‘NIMBY’ (Not In My BackYard) and ‘YIMBY’ (Yes! In My BackYard) titles have now become loaded terms, the struggle between community-led housing and the need for houses across the country has led to some clear dividing lines in political parties.
One one side, Labour, during the Mid Bedfordshire by-election, vowed to ‘bulldoze’ through the planning system, whilst the Liberal Democrats, in their Autumn 2023 Conference, passed party policy for 380,000 new homes (of which 150,000 would be social homes), after the Young Liberals, the Liberal Democrats youth and student wing, successfully defended the 380,000 target.
On the other, the Conservatives have defended community opposition to housing, opting for ‘right houses, right places’, in part achieved by greater density of houses in urban areas. The Green Party, similarly, passed policy on ‘Right Homes, Right Place, Right Price’, and have vowed to protecting the Green Belt, as well as highlighting the need for sustainable housebuilding that reduces emissions.
Final Thought
Housing policy is often seen as a policy that only loses candidates and parties votes. Strong local opposition can quickly disenfranchise potential voters, but few voters will actively support new houses in their communities, seeing as they are unlikely to be the ones directly benefitting from these houses.
As Curia’s Levelling Up Commission launches its 2024 Report, subscriber to our Newsletter here to stay up to date with the progress and read about how a future government can promote housebuilding sustainably and with local support.