Lib Dems adopt call for 300,000 new homes a year

Delegates approve housing paper at party conference

September 27, 2012

The Lib Dems have agreed to support demands for 300,000 new homes to be built every year as part of a raft of measures aimed at tackling the housing crisis. A motion backing the paper entitled Decent Homes for All, easily passed a vote by delegates. It also included policies such as requiring all government-owned properties to be assessed for energy saving improvements, stronger powers for the social housing regulator, and reducing VAT on renovation work. House building is currently at levels unheard of since the 1920s with new housing starts at barely more than 100,000. This falls well short of demand as it is estimated that approximately 230,000 new households are created every year in the UK.

Annette Brooke, the co-chair of the party’s committee on communities and local government, said: ‘Our country is facing a housing crisis. The Liberal Democrats are determined to come up with a robust policy that delivers the fairness that we have been talking about all conference.’