In the Mix: the need for a diverse mix of new homes - Shelter England
In the Mix: the need for a diverse mix of new homes
By: John Bibby
In the Mix: the need for a diverse supply of new homes
In England, we currently build about half the number of new homes every year that we need. It's absolutely essential that we increase house building so that we keep up with the growing number of households.
But increasing house building isn't only a question of total numbers and volumes. By building too few market, intermediate and social rented homes we have created a multi-dimensional housing shortage with multiple negative effects. We will not unpick them without also focussing on what we build.
This report sets out the benefits of building more of every type of home - market, intermediate and social rented - and how we can do it.
Based on the level of housing need and demand across the country we find that 50% of the 250,000 homes we need to build should be market homes, 20% should be intermediate and 30% should be social rented homes. This means a dramatic expansion in each tenure – and particularly in the social sector.