A senior housing expert this week demanded that councils be given compulsory leasing powers over private property this week, after new figures showed that England is facing a severe housing shortage.
The call came in response to research by the House Builders Federation that showed the number of households, including those on housing lists and in temporary accommodation, has now edged past the 21.1m total of homes.

The finding provoked fury in a sector that has repeatedly warned of an impending housing crisis.

Experts called for more "radical" action to bring the country's 750,000 empty homes back into use.

Empty Homes Agency chief executive Jonathan Ellis told Housing Today: "Half the empty properties are in high-demand areas and 80 per cent are in the private sector. We have this huge wasted resource not being used and we need far more radical options to tap the potential of these properties.

"Compulsory leasing is by far the best idea I've come across to access Britain's waste of potential [homes] which are owned mostly by amateur landlords who don't want the hassle of leasing. It is no good saying that nothing more can be done to halt the crisis – we need to give local authorities additional tools."

According to the figures, last year saw the lowest number of housing completions in 77 years, not including the war years. Some 162,000 homes were completed, while the number of households increased by 220,000.

Britain's housing investment has been the lowest of "any major industrialised nation" for several decades, and its housing stock is the second oldest in the European Union, the federation claimed.

Its spokesman Pierre Williams said: "The stark reality is that a 30-year campaign by the anti-house building lobby, coupled with a collapse of public investment in housing, has resulted in a society unable to house itself." The planning green paper had failed to address the issue, he added.

Homelessness charity Crisis called the situation a "huge problem" for those at risk of homelessness, in insecure tenancies, key workers and first-time buyers.

"The shortage of housing will keep the homeless and hidden homeless trapped in hostels and on friends' sofas," a spokeswoman said. "If it becomes more acute we will certainly see an increase in homelessness."

Roger Humber, former chief executive of the House Builders Federation and chairman of Anglia Housing Group, predicted the problem would take at least 20 years to turn around. "The only immediate prospect is that it will get much worse," he warned.

Peabody Trust director of development and technical services Dickon Robinson said: "The greatest challenge for RSLs is that land costs will be driven up, so the existing public subsidy available to housing associations won't go as far."

"Coupled with the inevitable rise in house prices, this is a real double whammy for the sector."

Source

Housing Today