No surprise that the British think there is a housing crisis. More surprising perhaps is the strength of that feeling across all groups of society, young or old, rich or poor, owners or renters.
Yet while there is stronger public backing for building new housing than any other type of infrastructure project, including roads and rail, all the evidence is of sluggish progress in increasing supply to meet rising demand. Today’s poll gives extra conviction to those saying “something must be done”, while highlighting the challenges. In particular, the crisis plays out differently by tenure, by age and by area. For example, outside London and the South-East most disagree that there is a housing crisis in their area — the opposite is true in southern England and London.
And while most think there isn’t enough affordable housing, there is plenty of resistance to new homes being built locally.
This means that the case for doing things differently and faster needs to be made compellingly, frequently, and locally. While the Government can pull some levers, a real step-change needs house building to be given greater attention by politicians, communities and business.
Leaving this solely to market forces and hoping that nimbyism won’t prevail is unlikely to be enough to take us beyond crisis talk.
