In his regular column in The Sunday Times this month, Matthew Syed bemoans the difficulties about getting things done in the UK. Lots of talk, many good intentions but delivery is another matter. He asks, “will we have to declare a national emergency to get anything done?”. In housing, we already talk about a housing crisis, with homelessness still stubbornly high, affordability a major issue and new housing output heading for record low levels. How do we break out of this doom loop?