Home Building Target
Tuesday, 15 September 2026
Contributions
Question
Asked by
Lord Young of Cookham
To ask His Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in reaching their target of building 1.5 million homes in this Parliament.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)
My Lords, we are driving progress through our bold planning reforms: the £39 billion social and affordable homes programme fund, and our new £16 billion National Housing Bank, which is expected to support over 500,000 homes. Alongside programmes such as the New Homes Accelerator and Small Sites Aggregator, we are working with industry and local authorities to deliver the homes this country needs. The latest statistics, published in June, show that an estimated 392,400 net additional homes have been built this Parliament, with a 15% increase in starts and a 54% increase in outlying planning proposals.
Lord Young of Cookham (Con)
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for her reply, but only Ministers believe that the 1.5 million target is achievable; even the National Audit Office said that the chances are slim. The Prime Minister has recently decided to channel public money for housing away from housing associations and through local authorities. First, does the Minister agree that this means we will get fewer social homes, because housing associations can top up public money with private borrowing while the local authorities cannot? Will she urge him to change direction? Secondly, does she agree that many of those renting could afford a mortgage if they had some help with a deposit? Has she read today’s Financial Times , which indicates that the previous Secretary of State urged the Government, before he was sacked, to introduce a successor to Help to Buy? Will she urge the Prime Minister to continue with that, as this will give the market the confidence it so badly needs?
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
On the noble Lord’s first question, the Prime Minister was talking about support between local authorities and housing associations. It is important that we have good collaboration between the two partners in delivering social housing. I look forward to a very productive relationship between local government and our registered providers. I do not believe that it will lower the number of houses that can be delivered, particularly as we now have the National Housing Bank that this Government brought in. I will write to the noble Lord on his second question.
Lord Best (CB)
I am afraid that we are not going to make the 1.5 million new homes target, but we can pull out all the stops and get as near as possible to it. Can the Minister prevail on her ministerial colleagues to commit rather more of the £39 billion that has been set aside to social housing? We can get on with that at a time when the private market is in the doldrums. There are lots of opportunities to help the construction industry get on with the social housing programme, which is so important.
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
We committed to delivering a stretch target of 1.5 million homes. We know it is a stretch target, but it is better to aim high in this respect. We have already announced, in August, the first tranche of the £39 billion of funding for social housing. We will move forward with the following tranches as quickly as possible.
Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)
My Lords, I very much welcome what the Minister said. Housing associations this year built the highest number of social rented homes in the past decade, and National Housing Federation figures suggest that that will further increase. Can she add to what she said and confirm whether her department is making representations to the Treasury to match the ambition of the housing association and council sectors and to increase investment in the social and affordable homes programme in the Autumn Budget?
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
I am sure that my noble friend would not expect me to comment on the Autumn Budget in advance of the Chancellor’s announcements. It is important that we remember that this £39 billion investment is the highest level of investment in social and affordable homes for generations. As I said, we have already begun implementing that programme, and further funding is available through future allocations. For the first time, three councils have been awarded strategic partnership status outside London, demonstrating how our councils are stepping up to meet these ambitions. We are also removing the barriers to council housebuilding through a 10-year rent settlement, rent convergence, Public Works Loan Board borrowing rates, right-to-buy reform and a further £46 million investment through Capacity to Build to strengthen councils’ skills, expertise and capacity.
Lord Stoneham of Droxford (LD)
My Lords, I declare my interests as listed in the register. Given the dire state of the housing market, surely the response should be, “Yes Minister”—a very brave Minister retaining the target. Can the Minister reassure the House that to get construction moving, the Government will give priority to encouraging private sector investment in social housing, rather than relying on Help to Buy schemes, which normally end up with higher prices?
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
I am keen to encourage as much investment in the delivery of social and affordable homes as we can. When I did a workshop on this in the City, there was a great appetite for patient capital investment in social housing. I hope we will be able to encourage that. We have reviewed the Help to Buy system, as the noble Lord, Lord Young, indicated. We are working through whether that is the right way to go. There were some issues with the previous Help to Buy scheme. We continue to explore ways to deliver more housing. Certainly, I would encourage investment in this.
The Lord Bishop of Hereford
My Lords, many villages are increasingly unable to retain young families, agricultural workers and other key members of the rural workforce because of a shortage of affordable homes. As the Government pursue their housebuilding target, how will they ensure that rural communities remain sustainable local economies, rather than becoming places local people are priced out of?
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
There are a number of issues that we need to address. One is the rural homes exception, which we have thought about. Local authorities need to make sure that they have enough rural housing in their local plans. We need to make sure that we have rural homes exception policies, so that local people can determine what housing is built where. There is also the issue of making sure the services are there to support rural housing. All these issues are important, and we must bring those together as we make sure there is sufficient housing in rural areas.
Lord Jamieson (Con)
The Minister frequently trumpets the Government’s £39 billion social homes programme as a means of accelerating housing delivery. Can she tell the House how many social homes will be completed and occupied by July 2029 through this grant? Would she categorise that figure as a firm commitment or a “slim chance” target, as the Secretary of State describes the commitment to 1.5 million new homes by July 2029?
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
I say it is a great investment, because it is an enormous investment in social and affordable housing. Significantly, the previous Government left us in a housing crisis, so I will not take any criticism from the other side about investing in social housing. The funding that Homes England is committing now will deliver 73,500 homes via strategic partnerships. The GLA intends to offer allocations of at least £8 billion and will set out shortly the number of homes it expects to achieve through the initial allocation. We will consider whether a national central government target or ambition is appropriate in this regard.
Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)
My Lords, I warmly welcome the approach the Government are taking. I ask the Minister whether funds could be made available for housing associations to immediately purchase properties for social rent. There are so many on the market, some of which are under housing association shared ownership anyway.
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
I appreciate all the issues around shared ownership, and we have debated those extensively in your Lordships’ House. Housing associations manage their own finances—they are independent organisations. Many of them purchase houses that become available on the open market, and we would encourage them to continue to do so.
Baroness Uddin (Non-Afl)
My Lords, I welcome the Government’s absolute commitment to building 1.5 million houses. How do the Government square their decision to build a data centre in the heart of the East End of London—Brick Lane, which is occupied by communities and hundreds of families—which would take away scarce land for housing, to which the Government are committed?
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
It would be totally inappropriate for me to comment on individual planning applications from the Dispatch Box. We always have to get the balance right between meeting the needs of our economy—data centres are, of course, a critical factor in driving our economy forward—and making sure there is enough land for housing. That situation is the responsibility of our local authorities when they go through their planning processes, unless data centres are referred as part of our national infrastructure system. I will not comment on any individual application here and now.
Source: UK Parliament Hansard API. Debate ID: 5408134.