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There is only a “slim chance” the government will meet its target of building 1.5 million homes in England by the next election, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has told the BBC.<\/p>\n
“Headwinds” including the Iran war and rising construction costs are making it harder to meet the key Labour manifesto pledge, Rayner told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.<\/p>\n
“But I’m definitely not giving it up,” she said, and stressed that the government was “making a difference” through investing billions in social and affordable homes.<\/p>\n
Data up to March this year<\/a> suggested the government was behind on the rate of construction needed to meet the goal, which housebuilders have previously warned was too optimistic.<\/p>\n Labour promised to hit the target through building both private and social housing by the end of the current parliament, meaning summer 2029 at the latest.<\/p>\n This implied an average of 300,000 new properties would be needed each year – a rate of construction not seen in decades.<\/p>\n Rayner told the BBC on Sunday: “It’s a slim chance, but I’m definitely not giving it up.”<\/p>\n She said it was important to keep the goal – which she said had always been a “stretch target” – in place, but that she was “being honest with the public” that it would be difficult to achieve.<\/p>\n “The prime minister wants us to make sure we’re building council houses. He’s made that absolutely, fundamentally clear,” she said.<\/p>\n “We’re seeing home starts up by 15% last year, so we are making a difference.”<\/p>\n Prime Minister Andy Burnham has promised “the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period” – although he has not provided details on exactly what this will entail.<\/p>\n BBC Verify analysis showed a decline in the number of new houses being built during Labour’s first year in power – continuing a fall that began under the Conservatives.<\/p>\n