300,000 new homes will be built despite financial pressures, says Housing Secretary

Michael Gove has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to building 300,000 homes per year despite the former Prime Minister’s decision to boycott the idea and the tax debt they’re facing. 

Mr Gove, who has been reappointed as the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Minister said he is committed to building 300,000 new homes for ownership and rent.  

Although Liz Truss initially pledged to scrap the homes target, believing it to be a ‘Stalinist’ approach, Mr Gove said: ‘The top-down housing targets that Liz was referring to are part of a broader and different calculation from the 300,000 in the manifesto,’ whilst speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg Show.

‘My view is that what we do need is a fair way of allocating housing needs that takes account of changes in population,’ Mr Gove adds.

The housing target has been part of the conservative party’s aim since David Cameron was in power.

However, Mr Grove has expressed his concerns that the planned homes must not be built in a ‘shoddy’ manner as it will deter from their success and that meeting this target could be difficult due to the current financial pressures which have cost the government £40bn in their tax income.

Although, building new homes could help tenants during the cost-of-living crisis as recent research has shown that investing in a new-build could help save people some money.

Weston Homes, a UK property developer, says new-builds often have more energy efficient measures in place meaning they stay warmer for longer.

The new houses the Levelling Up Minister is proposing have also caused some concerns with people who are currently being treated poorly by social and private landlords, but Mr Gove has reassured the government have a new legislation to make sure that centra landlords live up to their responsibilities by providing ‘a stronger voice for tenants’ and ‘bigger penalties for social landlords who are keeping people in homes for social rent which are not fit for habitation.’

Photo by Paul Kapischka