Millions of people across the country are longing for one thing this Christmas – a safe place to call home.
160,000 children living in temporary accommodation. Veterans who have served our country, now living on our streets.
A record number of families in temporary accommodation.
This is the face of the housing crisis. People shivering in the streets at Christmas.
Families cramped into a single mouldy room, locked out of the safe, secure housing every person deserves.
And it’s not just at Christmas – there is a generation of aspirational young people who can’t afford to put down roots and start a family of their own.
They’re doing all the right things, but not getting anything to show for it.
Successive governments have left this problem to fester for too long. This government is putting people first by backing builders.
We’re taking on the blockers, the nimbys and the naysayers to build the houses and communities we desperately need.
We’re rewarding the aspiration and hard work of people across the country with the good, affordable housing people deserve.
Last week, I announced our milestone to build 1.5 million new homes in the next five years. It’s an ambitious target, I won’t deny it.
But I won’t settle for less than the British people deserve.
I’m putting an end to the ‘no can do’ culture that stops us reaching our potential. It’s time to inject ambition back into Britain.
So we’re announcing sweeping reforms to unclog our blocked up planning system.
We’ll deliver the biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, with £500 million already unlocked to build new affordable housing.
We will build more quickly, more easily and more cheaply. That doesn’t just mean new homes.
We’re fast tracking 150 infrastructure projects, almost three times as many as the Tories managed in 14 years.
That will give us the GP surgeries, the roads and railways, and the reservoirs and grids to support the new towns and villages we’re going to build.
This will build growth and boost living standards across the country. It will make the dream of home ownership a reality for hardworking Brits.
And it will get our country building again after a decade of decline. This is all part of our plan for change. We’ll build a better future, together.
