Text entered

Shelter - More homes needed

england.shelter.org.uk

17 February 2011

Local authorities must start prioritising spending on housing delivery to meet need, Shelter said in response to today’s house building figures.

Housing starts (the number of new houses on which construction has been started in a specific period) stand at 23,000 for the December quarter 2010, an 11 per cent decline from the previous quarter and 54 per cent below their March 2007 quarter peak.

Shelter’s chief executive Campbell Robb said:

‘These figures show a worrying decline in the number of starts over the last quarter. In this country we have 1.8 million households on waiting lists, more and more families stuck in an insecure private rented sector, and millions priced out of the housing market, and a lack of affordable housing is the root cause.

‘It is absolutely essential that local authorities start prioritising spending on housing delivery to meet need and ensure clear transparency for local people to rate their performance and hold councils to account. Building more homes is the only way to tackle our escalating housing crisis.’