Author: Alex Lord, Professor, Lever Chair of Urban Planning, University of Liverpool

The election of the Labour government has been accompanied by a renewed appetite to deal with England’s housing crisis. Among the first of its policy initiatives, announced by deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, is the reintroduction of a national housing target – 1.5 million new homes over the period of the five-year parliament. This target is only for England – the other UK nations have devolved powers over their housing totals – and includes privately-built housing as well as “affordable homes”. While the government’s desire to confront this major housing challenge is laudable, achieving its ambitious target requires two major…