It's all in the news today ... Building and Housing .. Government directive to kick start affordable housing.

The Government unveils it latest attempt today to fix the broken housing market moving away from full home ownership to a mixed housing model .

Is the housing market broken ??? at Hodgkinson's we aren't sure, but there is one big question that needs to be asked !!! who is going to build all these houses ??? 1 Million new homes is the Governments target for 2020. However last year the figures say only 141550 new homes were built !! It is important to remember that the UK has around 250,000 bricklayers. Let's do the maths, that works out at one bricklayer house !

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid will set out the latest plan to get Britain building homes again in the long-awaited Housing White Paper.

At the heart are fresh moves to speed up planning and loan funding for smaller house builders.

The new housing strategy for England will force councils to update their local housing plans, building thousands more homes, with an emphasis on high-rise blocks and city centre developments.

Also developers will be told to start building on land within two years of planning, rather than three.

The Government’s aim is to help small firms build more than 25,000 new homes by 2020 with loans from a ￡3bn fund that will also support off-site construction and essential infrastructure.

There are also plans to introduce a Lifetime ISA from April 2017 to help first-time buyers save for a new home deposit.

To support the growing build to rent sector, ministers also want greater security for renters with longer-term tenancies in the private sector.

Key measures in Housing White paper

• Make councils update local plans for housing demand
• Avoid low density housing where land is in short supply
• Cut allowed period from planning permission to construction from three to two years
• ￡3bn fund to help smaller building firms, including support for off-site construction
• Introduce a lifetime ISA to help first-time buyers save for a deposit
• Allow building on green belt only in exceptional circumstances

“The housing market in this country is broken and the solution means building many more houses in the places that people want to live,” said the Communities Secretary.

“Today we are setting out ambitious proposals to help fix the housing market so that more ordinary working people from across the country can have the security of a decent place to live.

“The only way to halt the decline in affordability and help more people onto the housing ladder is to build more homes. Let’s get Britain building.”