Matching the cost of refurbishing parliament could house a third of the UK

Research from Cardiff-based brokers, Pure Commercial Finance, has revealed that the cost of the planned Palace of Westminster repairs could dramatically decrease the UK housing deficit if the money was matched and spent on affordable housing.

The homelessness in Pontypool and Caerphilly could be housed nearly four times over, whereas bigger cities like Cardiff could be improved by 26%, and Swansea’s housing crisis could be improved by 40%.

The total cost for the repairs is £4bn, equal to 40,000 new properties, based on the average cost of building a 3-bedroom home from Pure’s internal data – housing 121,000 people based on three people per property. This equals to housing over a third of the UK homeless population.

Government figures reveal that 430,000 affordable homes have been built since 2010, although housing charity, Shelter, estimates a deficit of 3.2 million homes, and 320,000 homeless people in the UK.

Other Welsh cities and towns analysed that could be improved include Newport (improved by 39%), Hereford (improved by 199%), Bridgend (improved by 206%), Barry (improved by 206%) and Llanelli (improved by 242%).

Ben Lloyd, the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Pure Commercial Finance commented on this saying:

“We deal with professional developers every day and we are well-aware of the demand for affordable housing across the UK and the influence that Brexit is having on borrowing.

“Although we would never suggest cancelling the refurbishment of such a prized national monument, we were shocked to see how matching the refurbishment budget could help towards solving the deficit.”

The CEO of Shelter, Polly Neate, has also stated:

“It is unforgiveable that 320,000 people in the UK have been swept up by the housing crisis and now have no place to call home. These new figures show that homelessness is having a devastating impact on the lives of people right across the country.”

To view the full campaign, visit this page: https://www.purecommercialfinance.co.uk/news/could-redistributing-the-houses-of-parliament-refurb-budget-solve-the-housing-crisis/