A new study from Cardiff-based finance specialists, Pure Commercial Finance, has revealed that the cost to refurbish the Houses of Parliament at £4bn, could instead house 37% of the UK if the money was matched and spent on the housing deficit instead.
The housing deficit could be improved or solved in many towns and cities in Wales. This includes being able to house 26% of Cardiff’s homeless, 39% of Newport, 40% of Swansea, 199% of Hereford, 206% of Bridgend and Cwmbran by 250%.
However, the homeless in Pontypool and Caerphilly could be housed four times over at nearly 400%.
Using their own data, Pure discovered that the average three-bedroom home in the UK costs £99,872.75 to build, meaning 40,000 houses could be built should the money get spent on the deficit instead of the refurb, or be matched. This should house 121,000 of the UK’s homelessness, based on three per property, which is the UK average household amount.
Government figures have previously revealed that 430,000 affordable homes have been built since 2010. However, housing charity, Shelter, estimates that the UK has a deficit of 3.2 million homes, and there are still 320,000 people homeless in the UK.
Ben Lloyd, the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Pure Commercial Finance, who commissioned the research, has said:
“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.”
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