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The housing deficit has now reached four million homes in England alone. How did we get to this situation - and can anything be done?
Previous articles in these pages (Property Journal July/August 2018, pp.38-39, and October/November 2018, pp.36-37, as well as various comments from readers in the January/February edition, p.51) have confirmed that the housing situation in the UK is dire, and offered some proposed solutions from RICS residential surveyors. Of course, Parliament has been obsessed with Brexit, but the UK's departure from the EU is a comparatively new phenomenon; conversely, the Barker review of housing supply was published in 2004, outlining the problem as it stood and making recommendations to resolve it. So where are we now?
In summer 2018, the National Housing Federation published research by Heriot-Watt University showing the deficit has reached a horrifying 4m homes in England alone (bit.ly/NHFEng4mhomes). To meet this need and provide for future demand, it says the country needs to build 340,000 homes each year until 2031. Previous pledges by politicians of...