Ex-housing minister Healey’s appointment as chancellor labelled ‘an added bonus’
Professional bodies and firms from across the housing and construction sector have offered a mix of warm wishes and warnings to the new government.
Andy Burnham entered 10 Downing Street as prime minister yesterday promising to build council housing and end rough sleeping, before appointing ex-housing minister John Healey as his chancellor and returning Angela Rayner to the top of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
A spokesperson for the Chartered Institute of Housing thanked Keir Starmer for his leadership on housing while congratulating Burnham on becoming prime minister.
“We welcome his track record in championing the importance of housing to opportunity, economic growth and community wellbeing, while making a strong case for devolution and empowering local leaders to meet the needs of their communities,” they said.
They added that Burnham’s commitments to build more council housing and end rough sleeping, announced in his first speech on the steps of 10 Downing Street, were ambitions that would “resonate strongly across the housing sector”.
They said they “warmly welcome” the appointment of Angela Rayner as housing secretary, praising her previous tenure, which saw major planning reforms and new protections for private sector renters, as well as a large increase in investment for affordable and social housing.
Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, also congratulated the new prime minister and his commitment on rough sleeping, describing it as “an important and urgent starting point” which would address a “scar on the conscience of the country”.
“Tackling homelessness, and the wider cost of living crisis, will require investment in supported housing which prevents those at risk of homelessness from ending up on the streets, alongside a significant increase in new homes for social rent,” she said.
Henderson said housing associations would be “key partners” in delivering this and said the sector was “ready” to build on existing momentum and “deepen our partnership” with public bodies to deliver “the biggest programme of council and social housebuilding since the post-war era”.
Victoria Hills, chief executive at the Chartered Institute of Building, welcomed the new prime minister’s devolution agenda, saying that her organisation had “consistently acknowledged that regional leaders are best placed to understand local demand and the skills required to deliver priorities like retrofitting, housing and infrastructure”.
She said there was a “strong case for devolving more skills funding and decision-making” to combined authorities and local authorities, while stressing that close engagement between ministers, professional bodies and industry experts would be “essential to ensure policy is shaped by those delivering projects on the ground”.
Hills also warned of the need for certainty for industry, noting that “changes in ministerial leadership and shifts in long-term policy impact businesses’ ability to plan, invest and recruit” and expressing her hope that Burnham could provide stable leadership and honour long-term infrastructure commitments.
Vanessa Hale, chief executive of Real Estate:UK, said Burnham had picked a cabinet which “blends both experience and continuity”, praising the appointment of John Healey as chancellor.
Hale said Healey “offers stability and a relatively known quantity which should appeal to the markets and the machinery of government alike”.
“That he is also a former Housing Minister, in an era where delivery challenges are so acute, should be considered an added bonus,” she said.
John Healey was minister of state for housing and planning in Gordon Brown’s government, holding the office between June 2009 and May 2010. He was appointed shadow housing secretary by Jeremy Corbyn in 2015 and remained in the role until 2020.
She also welcomed the appointment of Angela Rayner, with whom her organisation “worked very productively in her previous stint” as housing secretary.
Hale added that regardless of the strength of the new team, the government would face challenges in growing the economy and “addressing the development viability challenges stymying new homes and commercial space”.
Derek Horrocks, owner of Sustainable Building Services and chair of the National Home Decarbonisation Group, said the council housebuilding ambition was “welcome” but that new build was “only part of the picture”.
He urged support for retrofit and said what the sector needed most was “continuity”.
“Delivery at scale depends on stable, long-term funding frameworks, and every reset or pause costs time, capacity and confidence that take years to rebuild,” he said, urging Burnham to protect the momentum already built.
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