A cross-party group of British lawmakers are to examine issues experienced by SME housebuilders in accessing business finance.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for small and medium sized developers have launched an enquiry into how such organisations can be better funded.
Small developers play a key role in plugging the UK’s residential property shortfall, as the government persistently falls shy of their affordable housebuilding targets.
In addition to financial considerations for SME construction companies, the APPG is set to scrutinise the impact of planning delays and ways in which modern construction techniques and technologies could be rolled out.
The Chair of the APPG for SME House Builders and MP for Northampton South, Andrew Lewer, highlights the need for a solution to the considerable funding gap, saying that: “SME housebuilders are vital to the UK’s ability to deliver a housing stock that meets our needs, and policy makers and financiers are fully aware of the need to ensure their ability to operate in this challenging economic climate.
“Hearing from the industry directly is an important piece in the puzzle, so I invite businesses and individuals to get involved and give us as much information as possible.”
The APPG is currently seeking industry feedback and collaboration, with submissions welcomed up until 26th March, 2023.
UK Government Set to Miss Affordable House Building Targets Once Again
In December 2022, the Public Accounts Committee reported that the British government was likely to miss their housebuilding targets (set in 2016 and 2021) by 32,000 homes.
Government documentation reports that: “The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities admits it does not expect to deliver the intended benefits of the 2021 programme and has already downgraded its forecast, expecting to achieve 157,000 new homes in its 2021 programme of house building against a public target of up to 180,000.”
Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Dame Meg Hillier MP, put a spotlight on the severity of the housing crisis, remarking that: “The Government knows affordable rented homes offer the best value for money.
“Many people in high-cost areas simply can’t afford to rent privately or buy their own home and there’s a desperate need for affordable, secure rented homes.
“But amid all the building targets there isn’t one for affordable or socially rented homes as part of government’s overall housebuilding targets.
“Local authorities know where and what homes must be built to address the national housing crisis but don’t have the power to act.
“The human cost of inaction is already affecting thousands of households and now the building programme is hitting the challenges of increased building costs.
“This does not augur well for ‘generation rent’ or those in desperate need of genuinely affordable homes.”
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