Central South: A Call For Housing Change

Introduction

There’s never been a more important time for us all to talk about housing. Having a safe, warm place that you can call home is central to the way we live and crucial for the future growth, prosperity and stability of our region.

Our Goal

We hope Central South: A call for housing change will stimulate discussion and provide a focus for action. We will be sharing the document with stakeholders and putting forward the solutions identified at a national level via the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Central South.

Context

The UK’s housing crisis, supply and delivery are far from new topics of debate with discussion on these items having taken place for many years. With the population now standing at over 67m, average house prices standing at £285,000 1 and the number of households on housing waiting lists currently close to 1.3million, it’s clear the housing crisis has reached a peak.

Impact

Who better to help us understand the impact of the current housing scenario and to see where it fits into the region’s operational jigsaw than the organisations that underpin its economy; employers. As part of getting underneath the skin of the Central South’s housing challenge, we sought the voices of representatives from private sector businesses to public sector organisations and from those with a local footprint to those with an international one.

A clear message was received – access to homes is now a significant, if not leading, organisational challenge and risk. In turn, the current state of the Central South’s housing market is now notably impacting the operations, sustainability and growth of private sector businesses and public sector organisations

Recommendations

We recognise the challenges around housing and infrastructure are far from easy to resolve but fundamentally, if the Central South is to achieve its regional potential, making progress with the delivery of both is vital. In having considered where the region sits today in housing terms and the impact the scenario has created, we believe there are several areas worthy of consideration.

As a result, we have set out a series of highlevel policy recommendations which are split between immediate and short-term and medium to long-term.

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