Housing targets should focus on quality, not quantity

Posted: 08 Oct 2008 14:28:54 GMT

The government and house builders should be thinking more about the kind of homes that need building rather than the number, it has been claimed.

According to the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT), it is more important to meet the actual needs of people, in terms of quality as well as quantity, rather than just slaving to targets.

A spokesperson for UCATT also called for more money and resources to be pumped into social housing schemes, in a bid to help first-time buyers struggling to cope under the strain of the credit crunch.

"That needs to be the big aim, and the big push," he said. "I think we should be talking about what kind of homes we are building rather than a simple figure. We need to be meeting what people need."

The government recently laid out plans to build three million new homes by 2020 in its Housing Green Paper.

It called on the construction industry to ensure that a ready supply of decent, greener homes is available at affordable prices.

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