Housing shortfall likely in South East says Housing Federation

AS residents’ groups in Thame rally support against the building of up to 850 new homes in the town, new figures show that the housing crisis is set to intensify in the south east, with insufficient numbers of homes being built here since 2002.

According to the National Housing Federation, who published the figures, they show that too few homes were built in every region in 2008/9, the latest year for which figures are available, with the south east missing its target by a margin of 15%. Over the whole period 2002/3-2008/9, says the Federstion, the south east missed its target by 11%, delivering 186,290 homes against a target of 210,300.

The news comes as a record 4.5m people are on housing waiting lists nationally (over 203,000 in the south east), and more than 2.5m people across the country are living in overcrowded conditions.

Regional targets were introduced by the Government as a way of ensuring that enough homes were built in each region to meet local housing need. They are drawn up by the former regional assemblies in consultation with local authorities, government housing agencies and regional government offices. The first targets were issued under the regional planning guidance system. However, since 2004, says the Federation, targets have been increasingly set through regional spatial strategies.

The National Housing Federation?s south east regional manager, Warren Finney said: ?The aim of putting these targets in place was to give a clear steer to south east planning authorities and government agencies, setting out how many homes can realistically be delivered to meet housing need here.

?While the south east is the region that actually came closest to meeting its target in 2008/9, the figures show a significant shortfall of homes being built in the region over a six year period. The end result is thousands of south east households coping with poor and unsuitable housing.

?Even during the boom years it?s now clear that too few affordable houses were being built and now we?re left with that legacy. Urgent action is required to get housebuilding back on track in the south east, along with every single part of the country.?

He added: ?The Federation is calling on ministers and the opposition parties to commit to protecting the current level of public spending on housing, after the general election, otherwise we will quite simply not see the right number of homes being delivered. If we fail to build the right number of homes now, we will store up even more problems for the future, with waiting lists growing further and homelessness and overcrowding getting worse.?