Will Spending Review’s house building boost be at SME’s expense?
Rico Wojtulewicz, policy advisor at the House Builders Association (HBA), respondsto house building announcement in Spending Review.
Stimulating house building demand will prove useless, if barriers to supply remain untouched. Once again, SME house builders will be negatively affected because local authority cuts will end up hitting local planning departments. It is important to ensure the right conditions so developers can tackle the housing shortage.
Let us not forget that decades of policies that favoured volume house builders have seen spiralling house prices, the lowest housing supply rates since the 1980s, and reduced affordability. Volume housebuilders certainly have a key role in solving the housing and infrastructure crisis, but any strategy that does not have SME house builders at its core can only hope for limited success. The HBA continues to believe that the solution to the problem lies in a shift in attitude towards SMEs, encouraging a government approach that ensures wider, more diverse market participation.
SMEs are uniquely placed to deliver a constant and organic house building supply alongside volume housebuilders, providing a more sustainable and common-sense solution to the housing and infrastructure crisis affecting this country.
