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Not feasible from day one to commit to 90,000 social homes a year, says shadow housing minister
The shadow housing minister said that due to a lack of capacity, it is not feasible to expect a Labour government to commit to delivering 90,000 social homes a year on the first day of government.
Speaking on Monday at the Labour Party Conference, Matthew Pennycook outlined a number of challenges in terms of ramping up delivery in the sector.
He committed to protecting the existing housing stock and reiterated a previous commitment to go net positive in the first year of a Labour government.
Inside Housing recently launched its Build Social campaign, which calls on politicians to commit to building 90,000 social rented homes a year in England over the next 10 years.
It is a figure backed by a number of other organisations at the conference, including homelessness charity Shelter.
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As he outlined Labour’s plan for affordable and social housing, Mr Pennycook revealed it was a target that had already been raised with him.
He said: “I say this to people who have said in the last 24 hours that we must commit to 90,000 homes a year on day one of a Labour government: capacity wise, I don’t think it’s feasible.
“Taking ourselves out of the housing crisis that we’re now in is going to not be quick and easy. It’s going to be an absolutely painstaking laborious task over many, many years.
“We’ve got to start addressing the fundamentals. We got to start moving things in the right direction. I think our programme does that. There won’t be any implausible promises, there won’t be commitments we can’t deliver.
“But you will see under a Labour government a marked change in how many affordable homes overall are being provided and the amount that will be provided for social rent.”
Some of the fundamentals Mr Pennycook alluded to included strengthening Section 106 agreements and making grant funding from the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) more flexible.
The AHP will also prioritise social rent housing, and the shadow housing minister said the current generous discounts attached to Right to Buy would be “significantly reduced”.
Mr Pennycook was speaking in the morning after the deputy leader of the Labour Party pledged to deliver “the biggest boost in affordable and social housing for a generation”.
Angela Rayner told a packed conference hall that Labour will deliver the housebuilding boost by preventing developers from “wriggling out of their responsibilities” to help speed up new social and affordable housing.
in a similar vein, the shadow chancellor proposed a “once in a generation set of reforms” to accelerate infrastructure building.
Rachel Reeves said she will take on the “antiquated planning system” with reforms to accelerate the building of energy, transport and housing.
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