4
MAY 2015 PRO INSTALLER
PRO NEWS
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The housing manifestos
Established in 2006, The House Builders Association (HBA), an organisation set up to establish
itself as the voice of the small and medium-sized housebuilder, comments on the three main
political parties’ pre-election manifestos policies regarding housing and house building.
Conservative Party
The highest profile announcement in the Conservative manifesto was the extension of the Right
to Buy scheme to housing association tenants. This would allow
residents to purchase their rented
accommodation at a discounted
price, and extra investment to
build up to 400,000 new homes
on brownfield land.
While the HBA wholeheartedly
supported any attempt to increase
the housing stock, it was concerned with the extension of Right
to Buy will place undue pressure
on those stakeholders that provide
affordable rents and homes. The
HBA also has reservations on
whether brownfield land will be
viable, especially when infrastructure needs are considered and
without any direct mention of SME
house builders.
Rico Wojtulewicz, policy advisor
for the HBA, said: “Our concern is
that this manifesto may not remedy the current situation where
SMEs may find a foothold but
little long-term security. The house
building industry appreciates a
thorough plan, but during the last
parliament SMEs have struggled
while larger house builders have
prospered.”
SME house builders are, therefore, still unsure how the Conservatives will encourage SMEs
to tackle the housing crisis. They
certainly appreciate the efforts
from the Homes and Communities
Agency, where the importance
of using SMEs to tackle supply
concerns has been grasped more
substantially.
The number of SME house builders is directly proportional to the
amount of housing completions,
something which we hope the
Conservatives keep in mind when
the specifics about these policies
are set out.
Labour Party
The Labour manifesto acknowledged the important role of SMEs
in house building, which the HBA
welcomed. A Labour government
would also ensure that at least
200,000 homes are built each
year by 2020 to meet the pressing
demand for housing.
HBA members are not surprised
that the reduction in access to finance and support has resulted in
the lowest levels of housing completion for over nine decades.
Promises, however, need a practical plan of action to be properly
implemented, based on plan-
ning support for community-led
developments; encouraging SME
interaction in infrastructure-ready
regions, and support of expanding communities through SME
community infrastructure levy.
Most crucially, local authorities
would have been given more discretion on creatively reinvesting
in social housing.
With the intention of tackling
supply concerns, Labour promised
to use the Help to Buy ISA to finance a Future Homes Fund to increase lending. The Lyons Housing
Review was used as a key point
of reference, leading us to assume
that Labour will be following these
recommendations quite closely.
Rico Wojtulewicz said: “The HBA
was sceptical about the willingness of banks to lend to construction SMEs and Labour’s ability to
convince them.”
He continued: “The HBA was
naturally delighted by Labour’s
focus on SME house builders, but,
given the lack of detail around the
plans, it would appear that the
discussion has only just begun.”
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats presented
the most detailed manifesto on
housing, compared to the other
major parties. The HBA did however spot some warning signs for
SME house builders.
Despite a welcome emphasis
on more housing and pledging
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to build 300,000 homes a year by
2020, other pledges such as the
removal of exemptions for zero
carbon homes are quite problemati