The lack of affordable housing is ruining the life chances of millions of people across the UK according to the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH). In the opening address at this year’s CIH UK Annual Conference and Exhibition in Harrogate, CIH President Paul Diggory has called on the Government to tackle the growing crisis by investing £11.6bn in housing in the Comprehensive Spending Review scheduled to be announced this autumn.
It is estimated that 1.6 million people are now on a waiting list for an affordable home and over 100,000 people are still living in temporary accommodation. In addition, key workers like nurses, teachers and police officers are able to take up employment in key parts of the country because of the housing shortage.
CIH and its partners want Government to commit to building 70,000 new affordable homes a year over the next three years. And with the Government's own National Housing and Planning Advice Unit predicting 10-times-salary mortgages, CIH wants priority is given to those people struggling to get onto the housing ladder.
In his speech the CIH President also wanted housing policy to acknowledge the important issue that some people don't want or can't afford to buy. His comments were echoed in a recent CIH Member survey with 83% of respondents stating they thought that there was too much emphasis on homeownership at the expense of renting. He also called for more to be done to tackle climate change and the runaway buy-to-let market.
CIH made a submission late last year to inform the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review in partnership with the Local Government Association, the National Federation of ALMOs, the NHF and Shelter. The submission identifies the need for funding to provide 210,000 new affordable homes over the 3 years, as well as money to increase the efforts already underway to prevent homelessness, to continue to provide resources for supporting people and to sustain the focus on market renewal.
Paul Diggory said: "All the key housing organisations in the country have joined forces to argue for public money to build more affordable homes to rent and own – and to improve the existing housing stock.
"Stephen Timms and Gordon Brown have both made encouraging statements about the importance of affordable housing over recent weeks but, in the face of other competing Spending Review priorities we can’t afford to be complacent. We will continue to make a strong case for housing right up until the CSR07 announcement in the autumn".
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(Issued on behalf of the CIH by Jill Dwyer, Media Relations Officer, CIH Press Office, Octavia House, Westwood Way, Coventry CV4 8JP. Telephone 024 7685 1780. Fax: 024 7669 5110).
Notes to Editors:
- The CIH is the professional body for individuals working in housing. Its primary aim is to maximise the contribution that housing professionals make to the well-being of communities. CIH has over 20,000 individual members working for local authorities, housing associations, Arms Length Management Organisations, Government bodies, educational establishments and the private sector. Further information is available at:
