These figures confirm housebuilding hasn’t returned to pre-financial crisis levels – John Healey

John Healey
MP, Labour’s
Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, responding to new statistics on net
additions to the housing stock, said:

“These figures
confirm that new housebuilding still hasn’t returned to the level it was before
the global financial crisis, a decade on. Any increase in new housing is
welcome but in any other area of public policy this record of failure would be
cause for resignation, not celebration.

“Meanwhile
genuinely affordable housebuilding has fallen dramatically in the last seven
years. The number of new social rented homes is at the lowest level since
records began and the number of new low-cost homes to buy has halved since
2010.

“After seven
years of failure on housing, Ministers still have no plan to fix the housing
crisis. The Government must now back Labour’s plan to build 100,000 new
genuinely affordable homes a year, help first-time buyers and give renters new
consumer rights including control on rents.”