By Steve Rolfe, Steve Iafrati, Gareth James, Henri Baptiste, and Colin Clark (members of the SPA Housing Policy Group).
Image: Igor Sporynin for Unsplashed
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The reemergence of housing as a core issue in UK politics has been one of the key features of the first year of the Labour government, elected in 2024. With rising homelessness, worsening affordability, and decades of under-supply and investment, ministers have promised to “build, baby, build” and deliver more than 1.5 million homes in England over the life of the parliament. However, a headline-grabbing ambition does not resolve deeply embedded structural housing problems. A more detailed examination at the government’s early policy agenda reveals a fluid mixture of reform, continuity, and unresolved tension between the goal of housing justice and the pursuit of economic growth, as we have explored in our recent paper for Social Policy and Society.
Discussion of a ‘housing crisis’ has become cyclical and routine in British politics since the global financial crisis, but the roots of today’s pressures go back even further. Decades of declining social housebuilding, the legacy of ‘Right to Buy’, and a planning system heavily reliant on private developers, have reshaped the contemporary housing landscape. The result is a system where home ownership has become much harder to achieve, especially for younger people, private renting has expanded dramatically, and social housing has seriously contracted. At the same time, housing costs have risen much faster than incomes, leaving many households devoting large shares of their income simply to keeping a roof over their heads.
Such pressures are apparent across multiple indicators. Homelessness has risen sharply in recent years, with increasing numbers of households placed in ‘temporary’ – often not that temporary – accommodation. Private rents have risen sharply, often going beyond widely used affordability thresholds, while ‘house price to earnings’ ratios remain historically high in much of England and other parts of Britain. Although overall housing supply has grown, it has not kept pace with need. Estimates suggest England, as an example, faces a shortfall of several million homes, while the stock of social housing has fallen significantly since the 1980s. In this context, the Labour government’s focus on increasing supply is understandable and politically attractive.
As mentioned, crucial to the government’s programme is the commitment to build 1.5 million homes in England during the parliament, equivalent to around 300,000 homes per year. Realising this ambition would require levels of construction not seen since the late 1960s. As such, ministers have started to reassert central authority over England’s planning system, reintroducing mandatory housing targets for local authorities and promoting a new generation of large-scale settlements. Proposals for new towns, urban extensions, and the release of so called ‘grey belt’ land reflect a more interventionist approach than that taken by recent Conservative regimes.
Nonetheless, significant questions remain about whether the policy tools assembled so far by Labour can deliver on the pace and scale of change promised. The UK housebuilding system remains heavily dependent on private developers and the market, and such business models prioritise maintaining prices and profit margins rather than maximising output. Labour shortages, supply chain constraints, and an ageing construction workforce further limit rapid expansion. Even the most optimistic projections suggest that private sector building alone is unlikely to meet the government’s headline target.
As such, expanding social and affordable housing becomes critical. The government has announced substantial long-term funding for a renewed affordable homes programme, with a larger share intended for social rent. This shift has been welcomed across the housing sector after years in which new supply was dominated by higher rent ‘affordable’ products. However, the proposed output still falls below estimated need, and uncertainty remains about the continuing impact of ‘Right to Buy’, which has historically removed large numbers of homes from the social housing pool.
Alongside supply policies, the government is addressing conditions in the private rented sector. Proposed reforms aim to strengthen tenant protections, including the long-promised abolition of ‘no fault’ (Section 21 notice) evictions. From 1 May 2026, such evictions – allowing landlords in England to evict tenants with two months’ notice, without providing a reason – will be abolished, via the Renters’ Rights Act, 2026. Measures to improve housing quality, particularly in the wake of tragedies linked to poor conditions, signal a greater willingness to regulate landlords and enforce standards. These initiatives understand that the private rented sector now houses a growing share of the population, including many households who once would have expected to access social housing or home ownership.
Taken together, the first year of Labour’s housing agenda suggests impetus, ambition, and direction, but also contradictions. Ministers present housebuilding as both a social mission and a driver of economic growth, yet reliance on market delivery mechanisms will risk reproducing the very dynamics that contributed to the crisis in the first place. Without deeper structural change, including stronger public sector building capacity and reforms to land and development finance, the ambition to transform the housing system will prove difficult. The test will come in the long political marathon required to deliver lasting change.
Finally, whether the government can maintain momentum – while balancing environmental constraints, local opposition, fiscal limits, and social need – remains unclear. Solving the housing crisis will require more than just building quickly – it will require building differently, prioritising affordability, quality, and long-term security for households across the country in the years ahead for everyone.