By Elli Kiely, Design & Innovation Director, HJK Construction
Open any newspaper in the UK, and it will mention the housing crisis in the UK. The actual extent of the crisis is hotly debated, but there is one thing everyone agrees on – there is undoubtedly a serious problem with the supply and demand of housing in this country. In 2018, The National Housing Federation suggested there should be 340,000 new homes built every year until 2031, with 145,000 of these in the social and affordable category. In 2022, the NHBC reported that 191,801 homes were built in the UK. Far short of what is generally believed to be necessary. The UK is one of Europe’s most expensive places to buy or rent a home. It has among the fewest homes per person. Over 50% of people in the UK live in households that spend more than 40% of their income on housing costs.
Given these costs, one way to alleviate the crisis is to increase the amount of affordable housing. Affordable housing for sale is defined as homes are sold at a discounted rate of at least 20% below market value, either by shared ownership, a discounted sales rate by developers, or discounted by the First Homes Scheme, which sells homes to people at 30-50% below market value. The National Planning Policy Framework requires that 10% of new homes built in major residential developments are affordable.
Over the last five years, around half of all new affordable homes were delivered through developer contributions, with most of the rest delivered through the Government’s Affordable Homes Programme.
Housing Associations are another way that the housing crisis might be alleviated. These associations are not-for-profit social landlords providing homes and support for around six million people around England. Housing associations build a quarter of England’s new homes, including almost all new social and affordable homes. Here at HJK Construction, after completing our first development with a housing association, we found that the standards were met and expectations were excellent. Housing Associations are committed to quality, and we are excited about the potential for further successful collaboration.
However, there is a very high demand for Housing Association properties. In the North West, as of July 2024, almost 200,000 households were on housing associations’ waiting lists. Liverpool has the highest figure with 10,683 waiting for a home within its local authority, closely followed by Manchester with 8,394. The average waiting time for a three-bedroom family home in Manchester is around four years. The North must create 16,603 new social houses to meet needs.
However, collaborations between Housing Associations and SMEs face a huge hurdle, and it’s one at the very centre of the housing crisis – planning permission and how it’s currently working in the UK.
Delays with applications are holding back construction projects and the delivery of new homes. These planning bottlenecks are seriously failing communities—many people are simply being left without suitable housing, forcing them to move elsewhere. Post-COVID, many local authorities’ lead times for planning decisions have increased dramatically. The Housebuilding Federation’s 2023 report stated that planning permission for new housing has continued to decline and is predicted to fall to unprecedented levels.
Local Authorities need to streamline the planning process—making it leaner, more efficient, and crucially, much quicker. Put simply, faster decisions mean more houses can be built, alleviating the housing shortage. We urge local authorities up and down the country to recognise the detrimental effects these delays are having and take steps to hold planning departments accountable for timely and efficient decision-making.
Speeding up planning approval addresses the housing crisis and has substantial knock-on effects nationally and locally. Building new homes helps create jobs, encourages the establishment of businesses, and stimulates the local economy. Ailing towns, suburbs, and villages have been revitalised across the country by building new homes.
A survey published in 2023, commissioned by the Homebuilder’s Federations, Close Brothers Property Finance, and Travis Perkins, shows that 93% of SMEs cite securing planning as a major barrier to growth. 91% of these businesses say that planning departments in local authorities need to be more resourced, hindering SME homebuilders’ growth. 46% of SME developers say the cost of obtaining planning permission has risen by over 30% in the past three years.
We urge local authorities to recognise the impact of planning delays on the housing sector and take steps to hold planning departments accountable for timely and efficient decision-making. We recognise that council budgets are tight, and the staffing and management of planning departments are under considerable strain, but we ask local authorities to recognise how beneficial housebuilding is to the local economy and act accordingly. There is huge potential for growth, job creation, and town and urban centre regeneration; all it needs to be is enabled by a positive, proactive approach from central government and local authorities.
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