Spending Won’t Solve Housing Crisis While Bottlenecks Survive

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Unless development hurdles can be overcome, the investment announced by the Chancellor in social housing announced in the recent Spending Review won’t help Get Britain Building.

This is the opinion of audit, tax and business advisory company, Blick Rothenberg.

Mark Cunningham, a Partner at the firm, says: “The additional £39bn investment over ten years in social and affordable housing will only help if the current hurdles to housing development can be overcome.

“Planning bottlenecks, such as slow local authority approvals, under-resourced planning departments and complex regulatory requirements, continue to delay housing projects. Build costs are remaining high due to rising material prices, labour costs and the supply chain. And skills shortages across the construction industry pose a risk to the sectors capacity to deliver new homes.”

Loans to builders

Cunningham adds: “But if the government can navigate those challenges, this funding will be welcomed by housebuilders and developers, providing greater certainty and enabling more confident forward planning – helping the government reach its goal of 1.5 million new homes.

“In addition, the Chancellor announced a further £10bn for Homes England, in part to expand the Home Building Fund and provide loans and investment directly to builders and developers. This funding sits outside the government’s fiscal rules, as it is structured as recoverable loans rather than grant funding.”

Picture: Investment to build homes won't work unless planning bottlenecks are removed.

www.blickrothenberg.com

Article written by Cathryn Ellis
26th June 2025

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