It’s hard to build our way out of the housing crisis (UK)

Abstract

There is much to be welcomed in the Labour party’s manifesto, particularly the idea of the Sovereign Land Trust to buy land and lease it back to communities, the commitment to zero-carbon new homes and an end to right-to-buy (Corbyn unveils Labour’s most radical manifesto for decades, 22 November).

But – as an architect who was active in London in the 1960s and 70s, at the height of the postwar expansion of council house building – I have some misgivings about the commitment to build at a rate of 150,000 units a year.