UK Labour govt launches 'urgent' housebuilding plan

Britain's new Labour government on Tuesday unveiled its plans to tackle the UK's chronic housing shortage, a crisis that affects many European countries.

The centre-left party won a landslide general election victory against the Conservatives earlier this month, returning to power for the first time since 2010.

In its pre-vote manifesto, Labour pledged to build 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said the government would reintroduce mandatory housebuilding targets for local authorities that the Tories had scrapped.

She also pledged to free up some undeveloped green land for construction, a contentious issue in many rural areas of the United Kingdom.

"Today I am setting out a radical plan to not only get the homes we desperately need, but also drive the growth, create jobs and breathe life back into towns and cities," Rayner told parliament.

"We are ambitious, and what I say won't be without controversy, but this is urgent because this Labour government is not afraid to take on the tough choices needed to deliver for our country."

Rayner accused the Conservatives of allowing the number of new homes to likely drop below 200,000 this year to appease "anti-housing" lawmakers in the party.

The government had targeted 300,000 new homes annually to keep up with demand.

Experts blame low housing stock, high property prices, expensive mortgages and unaffordable rents for causing Britain's housing crunch.

According to government statistics, there were more than 1.2 million people on waiting lists for public housing in March 2022.

The number of people sleeping on the streets of London hit a record high of nearly 12,000, figures released last month by Homeless Link, the body for groups dealing with homelessness in England, showed.

A number of European countries, including Portugal, Greece, and the Netherlands also suffer from a lack of affordable housing.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, elected earlier this month to a second term in office, has pledged to create a new commissioner to tackle Europe's housing crisis.