Housing Justice Welcomes Government Plans to Build More Homes

Christian housing charity Housing Justice has welcomed the proposals to increase housing supply put forward by Housing Minister Yvette Cooper in Parliament earlier in the week.

Introducing the new green paper in Parliament Ms Cooper said that the Government intended to increase housing supply by 40,000 new homes to 240,000 new homes a year which will lead to the construction of three million new homes by 2020.

The green paper indicates that around a third of the new homes will be built by housing associations and local authorities for affordable rent. The green paper proposals, following consultation, will be included in the Queen's Speech in November.

The increase in housing supply proposed in the green paper, Housing Justice believes, will offer hope to the 1.6 million families on council housing waiting lists and the 87,000 homeless families trapped in temporary accommodation. The impact of the past failure to invest in new housing is seen in Housing Justice's housing advice centres on a daily basis, the charity said.

Housing Justice fears that the Government's proposals may come across opposition on the ground from local authorities and others who are against increasing housing supply.

It is calling on all Christians to recognise the housing need in their communities and counter arguments put forward by opponents to new homes who argue that house building should be 'not in my back yard' (NIMBY).

Judith Maizel-Long, Director of External Affairs at Housing Justice, commented: "We wholeheartedly welcome the Government's proposals to increase housing supply contained in the green paper. If implemented the proposals will begin to address England's housing crisis, the effects of which are felt daily by hundreds of thousands of families."

She continued: "We are however concerned that the proposals will come unstuck as a result of opposition in local authorities. To counter this we will be encouraging all Christians to find out about the housing problems in their local area and nationally using the links on the new green paper pages of our website.

"We hope they will then be able to use this information to press their council to increase housing supply to meet need. They can also counter some of the arguments of people opposed to new housing."

Ms Maizel-Long said she hoped the pressure would prevent local authorities from giving in to the NIMBY arguments.

This country has not been building enough housing for the last 20 years so there is a lot of work for the Government to do," she said. "By increasing the supply housing will be made more affordable for everyone."

The charity also stressed that merely building housing is not enough

"We are pleased to see that the Government has recognised that it is no good just building houses. It is crucial that we avoid the mistakes of the past and ensure that the new housing is of the best quality," said Ms Maizel-Long.

She said it was "vital"that the construction of communities went hand in hand with the construction of supporting infrastructure. Services such as transport, shops, medical services, schools, community halls and places of worship "need to be integral to new developments", said Ms Maizel-Long.

"Only then will we be able to create truly sustainable communities," she concluded.