The government’s inquiry into the affordability of home ownership will continue hearing oral evidence tomorrow, with contributions from the Conveyancing Association’s Beth Rudolph, PEXA UK CEO Joe Pepper, and Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark.
The Portcullis House meeting will be streamed live, with Rudolph – speaking in her capacity as co-chair of the Home Buying and Selling Council – giving evidence from 10am.
A second session will hear evidence from David O’Leary, executive director at the Home Builders Federation, Steve Collins, chief executive at Rentplus-UK, and Paul Rickard, chief executive of Pocket Living.
The inquiry was launched in July last year to examine the barriers faced by first-time buyers. The cross-party committee is exploring how the government supports first-time buyers and how interventions such as financial products and government policies can help aspiring home buyers get onto the housing ladder.
Speaking at the launch, Florence Eshalomi, chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee said:
“Decades of failure to build anything like the homes we need means that far too many people stand no chance of making the first step on the housing ladder. If you don’t own your own home, and can’t turn to your family for help, how can you be expected to save up for a mortgage when more and more of your income is going on rent?”
Written submissions to the inquiry were published in October last year, with contributions from organisations including the Home Builders Federation, Propertymark, PEXA, and the Chartered Institute of Housing.
The submissions include comments on the existing routes to affordable home ownership delivered by the Affordable Homes Programme, including shared ownership, and how far these provide genuinely affordable routes to owning homes.
“Ultimately, it’s crucial that more homes are built, and that the government delivers on its 1.5 million new homes target in this parliament,” Eshalomi said.
“But, when the prospect of owning a home is so slim for too many people, it is important that we examine the routes to affordable home ownership and how the government could help foster better support for first time buyers.”
Watch live on Tuesday 6 January at 10am: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee – Affordability of Home Ownership
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