After three days in Liverpool at the Labour Party Conference attending speeches, panel discussions and meetings, it’s clear that housing remains at the top of the agenda for the new government. Speeches from Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves, Ed Miliband and Angela Rayner all covered housing policies including planning reform, the Renters’ Rights Bill, lowering energy bills for tenants, and providing homes for veterans, young care leavers and victims of domestic abuse.
But talk is cheap, and the Labour government will have to commit the necessary funding to deliver on housebuilding pledges, energy efficiency retrofits and private rented sector (PRS) reform. While the party has spent the last few days in Liverpool focused on broad-stroke missions, theindustry wants to see actual funding behind these reforms to ensure they are viable.
But which issues got the most attention?
The planning paradox
While planning reform was a hot-button topic for many panellists across different fringe events, there are more immediate and expensive issues facing the delivery of new homes across the UK.
Planning permission has already been granted for over 1 million homes that have not been built, according to analysis by planning portal operator TerraQuest. The reasons construction has not started are down to a lack of skilled tradespeople, materials shortages and high interest rates, they say.
However, there will be a significant cost to train the estimated 50,300 extra workers that will be required per year to hit the ambitious target of 1.5 million new homes set by the government. The government also needs to focus on keeping the economy stable so the Bank of England can continue to reduce interest rates. This will allow housebuilders to borrow more for new builds and stimulate the sales market by reducing the cost of homebuyers’ mortgage repayments.
Focused on renters’ rights
Minister of State for Housing and Planning Matthew Pennycook was ever-present around the fringe, outlining why Labour believes the Renters’ Rights Bill is needed. When I spoke to him, he acknowledged some of the finer details were still under scrutiny to avoid any unintended consequences and said he would be open to constructive comments. But he was firm that the measures within the Bill – including the move to open-ended tenancies, the abolition of Section 21, the right to request pets in homes, and extending the Decent Homes Standard and Awaab's Law to the PRS – would all become law.
With landlords nervous about what these changes could mean for them – especially when it comes to recovering their property – the government should move to reassure them funding will be allocated to equip the courts to hear eviction cases quickly and efficiently.
Funding for warm homes
The other big change about to affect landlords is the new EPC C target for all PRS properties by 2030. Reapit data suggests that over 51% of current PRS stock will need some form of retrofitting to hit this target, at a cost of £24bn. But the current labour shortage in the construction industry will also impact any retrofitting programme, meaning the government will have to prioritise addressing it.
During the conference, support was announced for landlords housing low-income households (that earn less than £36,000 a year). The Warm Homes: Local Grant allows some landlords to receive up to £30,000 in grants to spend on improving the energy performance of their rental property and cleanerheat measures such as heat pumps and high retention storage heaters.
While there was no wider announcement of support for other landlords, The Times reported a proposed costcap of £10,000, meaning there may be a limit to what most landlords need to invest in green measures to keep their property in the PRS.
Show us the money
We can all agree that we need more homes, that renters should have a decent place to live, and that we need to decarbonise the housing sector, but there’s been precious little money committed to the many ambitious plans outlined over the last few days. I’m afraid without proper funding, the public would be disappointed with the results.
