Lack of housing is a worry for the British public

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by Kay Murchie

According to the New Homes Marketing Board (NHMB), the housing shortage in the UK is becoming an increasing concern for the majority of the British public. 80% said the lack of housing needs to be addressed.

David Pretty of the NHMB said the poll is both encouraging and disturbing and shows that people really do now recognise that we have a housing crisis and are understandably worried by it and seem to accept that immediate action must be taken to tackle it.

However, according to the NHMB, the public still give credit to persistent myths surrounding house building which are not supported by fact. For example, greenbelt land in the UK has risen by 65,000 acres in the last 10 years, while the public tends to assume levels are dropping. In addition, concerns about land use for new homes also appear unfounded.

The survey asked what proportion of the land in the south-east would be needed to build 120,000 new homes annually for the next 10 years, 4 times the current rate, just a small amount of the public knew the correct level of below 1%.

Mr Pretty added when it comes to the detail of building new homes, a considerable amount of people still buy into the hoary old myths about the greenbelt and countryside disappearing under concrete and builders landbanking and many more are confused or unsure about the implications for themselves, their communities and the nation continued Mr Pretty.

This week is National Empty Homes Week of Action which looks to bring vacant homes back into use as method of tackling shortages. David Ireland of the NHMB said there are 663,000 wasted empty homes in England. The Government is insisting on building new homes but part of the solution is to use these vacant homes.