The government’s housing ambitions cannot only rely upon volume housebuilders, says Housing Diversification, a new action group
The Housing Diversification group is calling on Government to deliver on its commitment to support a much wider range of routes to housing development and to boost the number of SME housebuilders who deliver them.
Housing Diversification is made up of the Federation of Master Builders, the UK Cohousing Network, the National Community Land Trust Network and the National Custom and Self Build Association, working under a common banner.
The group is proposing that a new, high-level Housing Diversification Taskforce be created to support greater housing diversity.
Currently, volume housebuilders and the housing association sector deliver the majority of England’s housing, and yet together they are not able to deliver on Government’s ambitions for 300,000 homes per year.
Diversifying the housing market is a core pillar of the government’s housing policy, but to ensure we ‘Build Back Better’ it must be a core part of a wider strategy for recovery from Covid-19.
Housing Diversification is calling for:
- The establishment of a high-level Housing Diversification Taskforce, with a range of items, set out for consideration.
- Commitment to a five-year renewal of the Community Housing Fund as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review.
- The creation of a robust and statutory system of reporting on diversification as part of Government housing statistics, including on the NPPF requirement for 10% of homes to be delivered on small sites (one hectare or less).
Increasing diversification will improve quality
Andrew Baddeley-Chappell, CEO, National Custom and Self Build Association and spokesperson for the group, said: “Despite the importance of houses to our lives and the scale of their cost, there is currently too little choice when it comes to new homes in this country.
“We have come together as Housing Diversification to deliver more passion, quality, and care into the new homes and the new communities that we, as a nation, need to be creating. Just like any other market, increasing diversification will improve quality, innovation, and value.
“We will deliver homes more people want to live in and that more welcome being built.”
