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Gove backs housing industry group plan for 100,000 new homes for homeless people
Housing secretary Michael Gove has backed a report by the Housing and Finance Institute (HFI) setting out a plan to build 100,000 new homes for homeless people using existing funding streams.
The plan, called Operation Homemaker, calls for 100,000 new affordable homes to be delivered in a year-and-a-half, prioritising housing people who are homeless on the streets or statutorily homeless in temporary accommodation.
Housing secretary Michael Gove welcomed the report, authored by Natalie Elphicke, a Conservative MP and director of the HFI, describing it as “innovative and teeming with ideas to tackle this complex area”.
The plan would be funded using current revenue and capital funding streams available within local and national government.
It aims to get councils, house builders and central government to work together to identify and accelerate affordable housing delivery during the expected downturn in construction.
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The delivery of the programme will be headed by a cross-party HFI team including Ms Elphicke, Lord Bob Kerslake, Sir Steve Bullock and Keith House, leader of Eastleigh Borough Council.
The team is calling for a new national mission to give every homeless person a permanent home and for chancellor Jeremy Hunt to use today’s Budget to back their plan.
They asked that Mr Hunt signal government support to institutional investors and enable current existing budgets to be used to back the plan.
Mr Gove said there is “no excuse for poor-quality rented housing”.
“Natalie’s plan seeking to provide decent permanent homes for the homeless and most vulnerable households is innovative and teeming with ideas to tackle this complex area.
“I look forward to engaging further with the Operation Homemaker team,” he said.
Ms Elphicke, chair of Operation Homemaker, said: “It’s time for a new national mission to realise the dream of a decent home for everyone who is without a home of their own – be that on the streets or in temporary accommodation like bed and breakfast.”
Mr House said: “It’s a key responsibility of local government to lead from the front and meet local housing needs.
“That’s what we have been doing at Eastleigh Borough Council, and at scale. I want to see more councils deliver the homes our communities need.”
The HFI describes itself as a not-for-profit industry group that “works as a hub to increase the speed and number of new homes that are built across the UK”.
It was established following a review of council housebuilding led by Ms Elphicke and Mr House in 2014, which was tasked with finding ways to boost delivery by councils without additional expenditure or borrowing powers.
Ms Elphicke became director of the group and was subsequently elected Conservative MP for Dover in 2019.
A DLUHC spokesperson said: “Increasing the number of genuinely affordable homes is central to our levelling up mission.
“Since 2010 we have delivered over 630,000 affordable homes in England, including over 160,000 for social rent.
“But there is much more to do and that is why we’re investing £11.5bn to build more of the affordable, quality homes this country needs.
“Councils have a duty to ensure no family is left without a roof over their heads. That is why we’ve given them £366m this year to help prevent evictions, support to pay deposits and provide temporary housing.”
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