As part of our ongoing coverage for the general election, we wanted to discover what matters most to people when it comes to housing. That's why we've teamed up with market research leaders Ipsos to find out what voters want from the government after 4th July in terms of their housing priorities.
Building more affordable housing should be the top priority for the Government
According to the research, a huge one in two voters believe that the government can do more when it comes to building more homes. A fifth of voters (21%) strongly disagree with the following statement: "There isn't much British governments can do to influence the building of more homes", and 50% disagree overall. This shows a desire for more action when it comes to the delivery of new homes.
The main political party manifestos continue to target 300,000 homes a year in England but this level hasn’t been reached since the 1960s, highlighting the scale of the challenge facing the incoming government.
However, in terms of how this home building should be funded, there’s less of a consensus. Just over two-fifths of respondents (41%) support the idea that increased government borrowing should help fund more housing delivery, but only a quarter (26%) are willing to see taxes rise to help pay for this. This raises the question of how and who should fund future home building.
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What should be the other key housing priorities?
Voters also care about homelessness and temporary housing which ranked as the second-most important priority for the incoming government and was chosen by 41% of respondents. This was followed by 39% who called for a reduction in the number of empty homes and better use of homes.
Of those polled, the highest priority for the rental market is managing the pace of rental growth in the private sector which was chosen by 33% of people. This was followed by giving renters in the private rented sector more rights, for example in relation to evictions and rent rises (21%).
Support for first-time buyers featured joint fourth in the list of priorities at 33%, despite this group being the focus of the majority of proposed housing policies.
People in different living situations have different housing priorities
Perhaps surprisingly, both homeowners and social renters agree that the top priorities for the incoming government should be building more homes, followed by tackling homelessness and rough sleeping. Interestingly for social renters, increasing the housing benefit for low-income renters ranked in third place. Housing benefit levels have been reset for 2024/25 but it's important this is reset annually to keep pace with the market, though this has not been the case in recent years.
Meanwhile, for private renters, of those polled the number one focus for the government should be controlling the pace of rent rises, followed by building more homes and increasing the rights and protections for renters.
Top 3 priorities by living situation
| Homeowners | Social renters | Private renters |
1 | Build more homes | Build more homes | Control the pace of rent rises |
2 | Homelessness and rough sleeping | Homelessness and rough sleeping | Build more homes |
3 | More support for first-time buyers to access ownership | Increase housing benefit for low-income renters | Increase rights and protections for renters |
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