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.

Related items

  1. A little girl in a red school uniform looks at the camera while another student writes with a pencil next to her

    What comes next: A fairer approach to primary assessment

    England’s primary school accountability and assessment system is not working well for disadvantaged children.
  2. A woman’s hand filling in a postal ballot / voting form.

    A durable majority?: How public opinion on the EU performs under pressure

    A decade on from Brexit, Andy Burnham has signalled that a reassessment of the UK’s relationship with the EU might be around the corner.
  3. Flags of Great Britain and European Union

    New world, new relationship: Our future with Europe

    Britain’s assumptions about its place in the world no longer hold, upturned by Russian aggression, American unreliability and Chinese coercion.