CBI calls on government to help housebuilders

The CBI called for an 'ambitous new way of thinking' to help housebuilders. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

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Business leaders today called for a 'step change' in housebuilding if the UK government is to meet its ambition of a million new homes by 2020.

The CBI said there should be an “ambitious new way of thinking”, warning that the housing crisis is an “acute problem” for companies as well as being a pressing social issue.

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The government was urged to offer help to small and medium-sized housebuilding firms through improved release of public land as well as easier access to finance.

Josh Hardie, the CBI’s deputy director-general, said: “Solving the UK’s housing shortage has long been a tough nut to crack. For Britain’s businesses, it is far from something confined to the news columns.

“It’s a problem the impacts of which are seen every day, from high prices barring people moving home and deterring them from applying or staying in a job, to the dent it puts in productivity.”

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