Helping the Government to be Houseproud

To encourage politicians to prioritise housing as an area of investment, Wates Living Space sponsors Houseproud, a campaign spearheaded by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and industry magazine, Inside Housing, to present the “Case for Housing”

The campaign has brought together hard-hitting statistics including:

1. Every £1 spent on construction leads to an increase in GDP of £2.84 as spending stimulates growth elsewhere in the economy worth £1.84[1] (20% of construction output is housing)
2. The UK is building around half of the new homes that are needed each year to meet demand[2]
3. Every £1.20 spent on decent homes saves the taxpayer £1.80 on the cost of youngsters not in education, employment or training[3]
4. Every £1 spent on energy efficient housing saves the NHS £0.42 in health costs[4]
5. Every unemployed person costs the taxpayer £8000[5] per year. The House building industry employs around 300,000 people. 

In addition to addressing the demand for housing, the Houseproud campaign also seeks to educate politicians about the work that companies like Wates do to address social and environmental issues, through programmes such as Building Futures, and Target Zero.

By supporting the campaign, Wates will assist in creating two crucial ministerial briefing documents.  The campaign will also contribute to the Housing Pact document that will be produced during the CIH Housing Conference in Harrogate and presented to the Housing Minister prior to him addressing the conference.

Steve Trusler, Strategy Director for Wates Living Space, explains: “Investment in decent housing brings local training, employment initiatives, encourages the use of local suppliers and investment within a local community. It also has a knock-effect in terms of improving the health of residents, tackling worklessness and anti-social behaviour. We hope that by adding our support to the Houseproud campaign we can influence change for the better.”

To download a copy of the first ministerial briefing document please click here 

[1] LEK Report

[2] CIH Make the Case for Housing

[3] CIH Make the Case for Housing

[4] CIH Make the Case for Housing

[5] CIH Make the Case for Housing

Categories: new build, refurbishment, regeneration, influencing, affordable housing, CR, national

Tags: building futures, Decent Homes, Houseproud, Target Zero