|
'Rigged' house building system means 85% of families cannot afford new home in the region
NEW Shelter report reveals 'rigged'
system favours big developers and land traders rather than families, as it sets
out a new model for building homes.
The current system of house building in England is failing families by producing
high priced and poor quality homes, according to new report from housing charity
Shelter.
Its new report shows that typical new homes built today are out of reach for 83%
working private renting families across the country; even if they used the
government's Help to Buy scheme. In the North West, 85% of families are not able
to afford to buy an average priced new home.
Alongside being unaffordable, many new build homes are also poor quality. In
research by Shelter and YouGov, 51% of new home owners in England say they have
experienced major problems with their properties including issues with
construction, unfinished fittings and faults with utilities.
Today's report warns the current system will never work for ordinary families
because it rewards developers and land owners more interested in trading land at
high prices than in building homes. To put an end to this, the charity has
unveiled New Civic House building a new model of house building designed to
deliver genuinely affordable, high quality homes.
The report comes shortly after the government described the housing market as
'broken'
and was critical of 'fat cat developers' during the launch of its housing
White Paper.
Graeme Brown, Shelter's interim chief executive, said:- "Big developers
and land traders are making millions from a rigged system while families
struggle with huge renting costs and have to give up on owning a home of their
own, which has become nothing more than a pipe dream.
For decades we've relied on this broken system and, despite the sweeteners
offered to developers to build the homes we need, it simply hasn't worked. The
current way of building homes has had its day and it has failed the nation. The
only way to fix our ever growing housing crisis is for the government to
champion a bold new approach which responds to communities to build the
genuinely affordable, beautiful homes they want; as we have done as a country in
the past. Until this happens, millions of ordinary families across the country
will continue to pay the price." |
