Housing: Same 1.5 Million Target, New Team

At the beginning of the Keir Starmer administration in 2024, the then Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner, set a target of building 1.5 million new homes.

Now back in her former role, she has reiterated that target while acknowledging that it will be difficult to achieve. She has also ruled out, for now, introducing rent controls in the private rented sector, a decision that has pleased developers.

The Government wants to provide more council homes and intends to ask local authorities to agree housing quotas for their respective areas. However, the administration will ultimately be judged on whether it reaches the target of 1.5 million new homes, even if some have only been started rather than completed, and not necessarily on what type of homes they are.

The ministerial appointments have been largely welcomed because they bring proven local government experience into the Department.

Matthew Pennycook remains Minister of State for Housing and Planning. The Greenwich and Woolwich MP was formerly a Greenwich Borough councillor before entering Parliament in 2015.

He became Shadow Minister for Housing under Keir Starmer’s leadership and was appointed to the Government as Housing Minister in 2024. Having specialised in housing and planning policy for the past five years, he provides valuable continuity for the new ministerial team.

Moving further along the Thames, the new Minister of State for Local Government and Homelessness, Florence Eshalomi, also has extensive experience on the front line of London local government.

She served as a Lambeth councillor between 2006 and 2018 and was also the London Assembly Member for Lambeth and Southwark for five years. She was elected to Parliament in 2019 and served as Angela Rayner’s Parliamentary Private Secretary between 2021 and 2023.

From 2024 until last week, she chaired the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee. Andy Burnham has made homelessness an immediate priority, and addressing it will be one of her principal responsibilities.

Jim McMahon, the new Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, returns to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, having previously served as Minister of State with responsibility for devolution. Devolution is an area the new Prime Minister has made central to his political agenda.

McMahon has 14 years of experience as an Oldham Borough councillor, five of which were spent as council leader. He also served as Labour leader on the Local Government Association. Devolution will once again be one of his main priorities.

Baroness Sharon Taylor remains a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department. She served as a Stevenage Borough councillor for 27 years, including 16 years as leader. She led the £1 billion regeneration programme for Stevenage and contributed to the delivery of significant numbers of new homes. She became a life peer in 2022.

Baroness Judith Blake is a former leader of Leeds City Council. She was first elected as a councillor in 1996, later becoming deputy Labour leader and then council leader from 2015 until 2021.

Leeds, like Manchester, has undergone significant regeneration and redevelopment in recent years, a process that continued under her leadership. She is also credited with helping to turn around children’s services and supporting the arts, making Leeds a more attractive place in which to live and work.

The ministerial team fits closely with the new Prime Minister’s agenda for housing and the regeneration of town and city centres. Its members have experience of delivering projects in different parts of the country and will be expected to demonstrate that delivery over the next three years, or however long remains before the next General Election.

Sally Jameson is the other Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department and shares her responsibilities with the Cabinet Office. The former prison officer was elected as MP for Doncaster Central in 2024 and has served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary in both the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice.

She also chaired the parliamentary special interest group on municipal authorities, an urban councils’ pressure group.

It has not yet been confirmed whether Florence Eshalomi or Sally Jameson will assume responsibility for housing safety. Blair McDougall MP, meanwhile, becomes the new Construction Minister, serving as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State across the Business and Energy Departments.

One of the Government’s biggest challenges will be the speed at which it can deliver its housing targets. Success will also depend on joining up the work of different Government departments.

This week alone, announcements have been made about changing the education system so that greater emphasis can be placed on technical skills and courses can be better matched to the needs of local employers.

The construction and engineering sectors have experienced major labour shortages for a variety of reasons. With more than one million young people not in education, employment or training and receiving benefits, the Government is keen to make early interventions.

The objective is to connect local industries and employers with schools so that young people can develop the skills needed in their area. However, creating that workforce and closing the skills gap will take time.

Over the coming weeks, we are likely to see further policy announcements before the Budget and the publication of the Prime Minister’s wider 10-year vision in the autumn.

Feedback following the first week of the Andy Burnham administration has so far been broadly positive. Recent polling has shown Labour either level with or ahead of Reform, which had led in the polls for more than a year. Burnham has also demonstrated a ruthless willingness to remove ministers whom he does not believe can deliver his agenda.

Later this year, Andy Burnham is expected to set out the detail of his 10-year plan for the UK. The next Budget, likely to take place in late October or early November, will provide the financial interpretation of that plan.

What is already clear is that the UK economy needs to grow. A significant increase in housebuilding could make an important contribution to that wider economic agenda.