It is widely acknowledged that there is a national housing crisis and yet there remain many barriers to overcome to get housing at the ground level. The target of 300,000 new homes a year is yet to be achieved since the financial crisis, and soaring bills are affecting many people and businesses.
There is a national need for all types of housing – with both market housing and affordable housing being in high demand. However, there are many hoops developers have to jump through to be able to and get bricks on the ground and people in their much-needed homes, not least of which are the increased build costs.
At the end of 2022, the most up to date ONS Data found that the average construction cost for housing (public and private) had risen by 11% in the previous 12 months. This increase is crippling many developments and, sometimes, making them too expensive to move forward – making them unviable. The consequence of this is that some developments never get to bricks and water which, during a national housing crisis, is a travesty.
Affordable Housing is exceptionally important in this country and at VP we are committed to work with housing providers and councils to ensure that, where a development is viable, that affordable housing to best meet the needs of the community is provided for those who need it most. And, when a development is unviable, we are committed to assisting developers in moving forward with their schemes.
If you think build costs are making your development unviable, you may consider submitting a Viability Assessment with your scheme. These reports fully evaluate the values and costs associated with your scheme to understand whether any developer contributions, including affordable housing, should be provided. If you would like assistance with an assessment, please feel free to get in touch, and we would be more than happy to help!