Boosting housing targets is welcome, but more may be needed to deliver enough urgently needed affordable homes

Cara Pacitti, Senior Economist at the Resolution Foundation, said:

“Bolstering mandatory housing targets for local authorities is a welcome step that should go some way to helping the Government meet its ambitious target of 1.5 million new homes over the Parliament.

“However, planning reform alone is unlikely to deliver all the affordable homes we so desperately need in this country, and a significant ramping up of affordable housebuilding is likely to require additional public funding too.

“The Government has said it will bring forward details of future public investment in affordable housing at the next Spending Review. The scale of that funding will be key to whether we see a significant increase in the delivery of affordable homes over the coming Parliament.”