The housebuilding sector welcomes the government’s commitment to delivering 1.5 million homes over the next five years and supports the direction of travel that has been set out in just the first few weeks of this Parliament.

We recognise this is a moment where we can work together with government to address the national housing emergency and ensure that all aspects of the housing market are functioning more effectively. We welcome the steps the government is taking today to address this and through proposed planning reforms, including mandatory local housing targets and releasing “grey belt” land from the Green Belt.

Increasing capacity and capability within the planning system will address some of the causes of long-standing delays and the welcome announcement of a New Housing Accelerator Taskforce will tackle the greatest constraints to the development of large sites. Modernising the planning process will increase capacity and reduce delays, particularly for small and medium-sized builders and new entrants.

Industry stands ready to make changes to rapidly increase the pace at which homes are built, delivering the high-quality and affordable homes the country needs, providing skilled jobs and contributing to turbo-charging economic growth. Today the housebuilding industry is committing to:

• Delivering more homes, faster: We will increase delivery of new homes year on year in this parliament as affordability for purchasers and renters improves. We will work with all partners to try to improve access to affordable and green mortgage finance for homebuyers, particularly first-time buyers. We will increase the pace at which homes are delivered, with a greater focus on mixed-tenure schemes that meet the needs of local people. We will work with local authorities, delivery partners and our supply chain to commence construction and build out as quickly as possible. Where sites are viable and have implementable consent, we will get on and build.
• Placing affordability at the heart of what we do: We will work with Registered Providers and Local Authorities, including through planning obligations, to support government’s ambitions to deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, including targeting the delivery of 50% affordable homes on land released from the Green Belt and 40% for those large-scale new communities that emerge from the government's commitment to build a generation of new towns. We will work with all partners, including government, to find solutions to the current challenges in the Section 106 Affordable Housing market which are slowing down delivery of larger sites and preventing commencement of building for many SMEs.
• Continuing to drive improvements in the quality of new homes and places: We will build high-quality, sustainable homes and places, the schools, transport links, GP surgeries, parks and other facilities that meet the needs of local communities. And we will support government work to improve the experience of buying a new-build home.
• Making sure that homes are safe: We are proud that UK house builders, through an industry-specific Corporation Tax surcharge and via an unprecedented voluntary multi-billion pound commitment, is the only sector to have supported government efforts to prevent leaseholders having to pick up the bill for life-critical building safety work. We will honour the pledges made in the developer remediation contract and make every effort quickly to remediate buildings for which we are responsible.
• Creating jobs for the future: Delivering the homes the country needs would lead to the creation and sustaining of hundreds of thousands of new jobs and training places. We will ensure construction provides fair and secure work and will continue to drive forward with efforts to increase the diversity of the housebuilding workforce. We will work with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and other organisations to maximise the impact of levy-funded training programmes, including releasing experienced staff to lead training so tomorrow’s workforce can learn from the best.
• Transforming productivity and supporting the supply chain: We will utilise modern methods of construction to increase the pace and productivity of housing delivery and support an expansion of capacity and innovation in the sector. This will be targeted at reducing construction timescales involved in the delivery of high quality, energy efficient new homes, and support job creation in an emerging sector of the economy. And we will increase opportunities for SMEs on large mixed-tenure sites, to maximise delivery from all parts of the sector.

The housing market is a broad eco-system based on a complex inter-reliance between house builders, local authorities, housing associations, mortgage lenders, homebuyers and relevant supply chains. In recent years, the supply of new homes has been suppressed by a failing planning system, SMEs have departed the industry, housing associations have struggled in an uncertain market, housing affordability has been stretched and affordable mortgage finance has been constrained, all of which has reduced effective demand in the market. Government has shown a clear desire to work with partners to tackle these challenges and we look forward to further progress in the coming months. As an industry we are determined to play our part through increased investment to make housing more affordable and accessible.

The Home Builders Federation and supporting members: