19 Mar 2025
Much of the focus of recent months has been the negative impact of the Government’s new house building targets on the St Albans district. Here, Tom Martin, Ambassador for the East of England at Lloyds Banking Group, explains why St Albans actually cannot afford to wait for affordable homes…
It’s no secret that the UK currently faces a major housing shortage. According to the Centre for Cities, when the Labour Government was elected in July, the housing backlog stood at 4.3m homes. This is the largest housing deficit since the 1940s, when the then-Labour Government launched its Homes for All policy.
For St Albans City and District Council, the latest housing target requires that 1,660 new homes are built each year to help address this shortfall. But so far, St Albans is only averaging 384 homes a year.
This need to greatly increase housing delivery is felt in all corners of the country and reflected in the Government’s ambitions to build 1.5m new homes by the end of the Parliament.
But as important as moving quickly is making sure that we’re delivering a variety of housing options, tailored to the local community’s needs. And in St Albans, the need for affordable housing is clear.
The latest housing affordability study from the ONS revealed the average cost of a house in the city is 17 times greater than the average yearly earnings of people who live here. That makes St Albans the least affordable place to live outside of London.
To avoid pricing lifelong residents out of St Albans and ensure that generations of families can build their lives together, we need to consider the types of new developments as well as the number of homes.
Affordable housing not only gives more people access to the warmth and security that having somewhere to call home provides – it can also be a driver of economic growth. According to research from the Home Builders Federation, housebuilding contributed £53.3bn to the UK’s economic output in 2023 alone.
These are just some of the reasons why Lloyds Banking Group is calling for one million social rent homes to be built by 2033 – providing genuinely affordable homes for hundreds of thousands of people.
Our proposals, laid out in our ‘Building Futures – A New Era of Investment in Social Housing’ report, outline how the public and private sectors can come together to get Britain building. With comprehensive, long-term reform of the social housing sector, and a new approach to collaboration, we can attract billions of new investment and unlock land where homes are needed most.
Lloyds Banking Group has been championing social housing for decades. We’ve supported £19.5 billion in funding to the sector since 2018, working with over 320 housing associations. We also partner with developers, from large companies to smaller builders, and are the country’s largest mortgage provider.
For developers in St Albans, there is a wealth of support available to help them build the variety of new homes that the city needs. This includes our Clean Growth Finance Initiative, which offers discounted lending to small to medium sized developers who are building sustainable homes.
They could alternatively secure funds through a revolving credit facility, which allows developers to access capital at short notice, providing them with the flexibility to act quickly once they spot an opportunity to acquire a site for development.
These are just some of the steps we are taking to play our part. Because in St Albans, the housing crisis is not a distant problem – it is here and now, demanding decisive action.
With every delay the chronic shortage of genuinely affordable homes grows. But with smart financing, collaboration and unwavering determination, we can create vibrant, inclusive communities where everyone can thrive. The time to act is now.
