There is a serious housing crisis in Britain, with more than 4 million homes missing from the local housing market. And across England, the average home costs more than 10 times the average wage. A report on this problem was prepared by the United Kingdom's leading think tank, the Center for Cities.

The experts looked at the root causes of this crisis, how and why the problem has worsened over the past 75 years, and what needs to be done to ensure that in the future in Britain, there will be enough housing for everyone.

The key points from the report of the analysts

The Problem. Britain has a backlog of millions of missing homes.

There are 4.3 million missing homes in Britain today; they are not on the national housing market because they were never built.

Housing problems in Britain began at the beginning of the postwar period, not at its end. That is, after the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947. This caused the rate of housing construction in England and Wales to fall by more than a third: from 2% growth per year from 1856 to 1939 to 1.2% from 1947 to 2019.

Solution. Major planning reform must be implemented.

What is needed to do this:

1. Replace the discretionary planning system with a new, flexible zoning system. And it should be rule-based. That is, there should be a transition from uncertain, individual decision-making to a transparent system with specific rules.

2. Increase private housing construction.

The government's current target for construction is 300,000 homes a year. Analysts say that even at this volume, it would take at least half a century to fill the current housing deficit. To solve the problem more quickly, 442,000 homes need to be built per year over the next 25 years.

“Big problems require big solutions, and if the government wants to eliminate unfinished homes, it must first undertake planning reform." “Failure to do so will only continue to limit the potential for housing development in England,” stressed Andrew Carter, executive director of the Center for Cities.