More than 25 organisations join forces to tackle housing crisis

More than 25 major organisations have joined forces to tackle the UK housing crisis by forming action groups that will collaborate to help solve existing and future problems.

Led by Nationwide Building Society, the mutual approach to solving problems in the housing system comes as the pandemic has exacerbated longstanding issues around the affordability, accessibility and sustainability of homes. It is hoped that the four action groups will find ways of building more homes, delivering more of the right types of homes and encouraging more green homes, ensuring everyone can have a place more than fit to call home, whether owned or rented.

According to Nationwide Building Society’s new Future of Home report, nearly two thirds (63%) of people say the UK has a housing crisis, rising to 71% of private renters. The report findings demonstrate the need for a joint approach that doesn’t just rely on government for the answer.

Published a week after restrictions were lifted, the Ipsos MORI research factors in many of the views from more than 50 contributors as it sets out the problems within the sector and points towards some of the potential solutions as a precursor to future action. Contributors were spread across multiple sectors. As well as encompassing a range of housing developers, bodies and organisations, those who lent their expertise also included the likes of Accenture, NatWest, Coventry Building Society and the Nationwide Foundation.

Nationwide is today announcing a significant step forward as it partners with in excess of 25 organisations involved in the report to form dedicated action groups that will set out to tackle the housing crisis across four core themes – New Homes, Green Homes, Rental and Delivery of Homes, with national efforts to meet housing targets continuing to fall short due to a range of factors, such as a shortage of skills and supply.

The action group members have a variety of views and positions on housing, which will provide the right conditions for debate and consensus that can be used to create potential solutions. They include: ARLA Propertymark, Barratt Developments, Building Societies Association, Chartered Institute of Housing, Connells Group, CPRE, the countryside charity; Energiesprong UK, E.ON, Federation of Master Builders, Homes for Good, Lord Best, Metropolitan Thames Valley, Midas Construction, Mi-Space, MoneySavingExpert.com, Nationwide Foundation, NRLA, PricedOut, Rockwool, Shelter, Switchd, Trustmark, UK Green Building Council.

Sara Bennison, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Nationwide Building Society, said: “The pandemic served to highlight the importance of home for all of us although, as our Future of Home research showed, it also exacerbated many of the issues which have bedevilled the housing system for years.  I have been so heartened by the generosity of time and spirit shown by all the organisations who joined us for a series of roundtables on the subject. The challenge was how can we move from rehearsing the problems of the past to coming up with practical, workable solutions in the future. By thinking about the whole system together and not just the individual components where each organisation plays, we are genuinely excited by the ideas these action groups can table for the mutual good of all.”