Speaking after an Opposition Day Debate on Housing:
For most of us here in Fareham, working hard and saving our money in order to afford a home are crucial steps towards securing a financial future. Whether it’s buying that first home or scaling-up to a bigger property as the family increases, or downsizing once the children have left home, property ownership is stabilising and empowering.
However, after decades of under-investing, we are facing a housing shortage in Britain. With an increasing population due to longer life expectancy and more one-person households, supply has been exceeding demand, pushing prices up and forcing people to rent for longer than desired. In Fareham the average price of property is £233,000, some 10 times the average annual salary.
Historically, the Conservatives have increased housing supply and home ownership. Whether it was Harold Macmillan, as Housing Minister, in 1951, who oversaw a massive increase in house building; or whether it was Mrs Thatcher’s Right to Buy in the 1980s, enabling a whole generation to own their own home, the conservatives have always viewed access to housing as the key to social mobility, the building block of social justice and at the heart of aspiration.
Over the last five years, we saw record levels of house starts and completions. Some 200,000 new starter homes and the Help to Buy ISAs are directly helping first-time buyers get on to the housing ladder. In Fareham, a total of 258 new homes were started in 2014. Of course, the need for proper planning and infrastructure is vital and the reforms to the planning system have gone some way towards streamlining the process and ensuring that local people have a greater say in housing decisions.
Both the achievements of the last five years and the programme for the future are well thought-through plans of which Macmillan would be proud.