Under investment main threat to tackling housing shortage, warns HBF

Under investment is the main threat to the government's statement of intent to tackle Britain's critical shortage of housing, the House Builders Federation (HBF) has warned today (Thursday).

Spokesman Pierre Williams said that the HBF welcomed the government's commitment to tackle the problem - but questioned how the promised investment of £22bn nationwide will be spent.

"The sum appears considerable but has to be compared to the colossal costs of tackling decades of under-investment in housing," he said. 

"Even if the money is spent effectively, it will not solve the problem. Using the successful regeneration of the Greenwich peninsula as an example, the government now says it would like to see a 40-mile stretch of the Thames Gateway similarly developed.

"But the Greenwich site alone costs billions to regenerate and constitutes perhaps one or two per cent of the entire Thames Gateway. This perhaps best demonstrates the colossal investment that will be needed to tackle the problem.

"Ultimately, the scale of brownfield regeneration and improvement of the nation's housing stock depends only on the amount of money the government, indeed the country, is prepared to invest in its success."