• Local housing chief asks where will our children live?

Local housing chief asks where will our children live?

"We need to end the housing crisis within a generation, or our children and grandchildren will struggle to find somewhere to live."

Chan Kataria

emh-group-signboard

Chan Kataria, Chief Executive of emh group, says that we need to act now if we are to build the homes needed by our children and grandchildren.

According to a recent report by the National Housing Federation, East Midlands: Broken Market, Broken Dreams, less than half the number of homes needed in the region are being built. Over the next 20 years, 385,000 new households are expected to form in the East Midlands. At current building rates that leaves a shortfall of over 220,000 homes.

The report also reveals that despite house prices in the East Midlands being below the national average, they are still almost seven times the average salary in the region.

Leicestershire-based housing provider emh group is building 300 new affordable homes a year for the next three years. The developments are funded partly by £200 million raised by the group through a public bond, and partly by a three-year agreement with the government’s Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). The group received the ninth largest allocation in the country.

Mr Kataria said: “We have a whole range of new developments in the pipeline, including projects that will revitalise urban regeneration areas, schemes which will enable people to continue living in rural communities, and specialist accommodation for older people and people with disabilities. Each and every one of these schemes will make a significant contribution to meeting a growing need. But we are simply not building enough homes to meet demand. More and more people are being priced out of owning and even renting their own home.

“We need to end the housing crisis within a generation, or our children and grandchildren will struggle to find somewhere to live.”