We must fix it: Delivering reform of the building sector to meet the UK's housing and economic challenges

Article

In the long run, the only way to end the UK's chronic housing crisis is to build many more homes. But are Britain's big builders willing and able to deliver the new houses we need? In this report, we argue that, even with the release of new funding and land, we will not see the increase in housing supply we need unless we look also to reform the development industry itself.

If we really want to tackle our growing housing crisis - and use construction to drive desperately needed economic growth - then development industry reform must become an integral part of housing policy.

Reform is needed to diversify the industry, with an emphasis on bringing in new entrants. Key to this is a new approach to land. For decades our developers have focused more on playing the land market and the planning system than on building homes: we must break this link. Only by reshaping how development happens and changing how land is controlled and released can we arrest the downward spiral that grips our delivery of new homes.

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