Home building in Sheffield hit by Covid-19 pandemic

Housing charity Shelter warned a shortage of affordable homes along with a shrinking economy could mean the country faces “an even bigger housing crisis”.

In Sheffield, work started on around 600 new homes between January and September last year, according to data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

That was down by six per cent compared to the same period in 2019, when there were roughly 640 new home builds.

Construction increased between July and September as the coronavirus pandemic eased with work starting on around 340 homes – up from around 50 between April and June, when the country was plunged into lockdown.

However, the MHCLG cautioned that quarterly figures for local authority areas are "volatile".

Shelter chief executive Polly Neate says she fears a worsening housing crisis, and has called on the Government to invest in more social housing.

She said: “It’s good developers have found ways to start building homes gain while the pandemic continues, but compared to a year ago, housebuilding starts are down, so it’s not quite back to normal.”

She added: “We already have a dire shortage of genuinely affordable homes, and we cannot risk that getting worse.

“The problem isn’t just the pandemic, it’s the economy.

"If it continues to shrink, the housing market will stall, and we will have an even bigger housing crisis in our hands.”

Across England, work started on 91,000 new homes in the first nine months of last year, a 26 per cent fall from the same period in 2019.

Between July and September there were 40,000 new house builds, up from 18,000 between April and June.

Steve Turner, spokesman for the Home Builders Federation, said: “Since the restriction on house sales was lifted we have seen very high levels of demand for new homes.

“Construction has continued apace to meet this demand but inevitably delays have occurred as a result of staff absences and supply chain blocks.”

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