Angela Rayner insists 1.5 million new home target is still possible, despite rising cost of living

Detailed summary

Housing secretary Angela Rayner says she is determined to meet the government’s target to build 1.5 million new homes by the end of the current parliament

The country's biggest housebuilders, councils and housing chiefs will be brought together by Angela Rayner next week as she pushes for a “new wave” of homes to “turn the tide” on the crisis.

The Housing Secretary will convene the first national housing delivery board on Tuesday.

Its purpose is to look at where building standards and regulations, as well as the planning system, are slowing down efforts to build.

“I know it’s a challenge. I know that people will come to me at the end of this Parliament and will say ‘You haven’t met that target’ if I don’t meet it and I’m determined to do everything I possibly can.”

Her appearance before the Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee came on Wednesday.

Concerns have been raised that the government's flagship target of 1.5 million homes by the next general election will not be met within the timeframe.

In response to questions, the Housing Secretary insisted she was “realistic about the challenges we face”.

But she rejected suggestions the target would not be delivered despite rising costs and other challenges.

Referring to her two terms as Housing Secretary as “album one” and “album two”, Ms Rayner said: "In album one, the situation when we created the target of 1.5 million homes, the media were particularly saying that it's impossible, we can't do it. So we knew it was a difficult target then.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Evening Standard. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.