Housing minister: 'We can now restart and re-energise our housing market'

With so many parts of our lives put on hold, the last few weeks have been really tough. As Tamworth’s MP, a Staffordshire-man, and a Housing Minister, I’ve seen it here in the Black Country, across the West Midlands, and around our country.

For some people, one of the hardest aspects of this has been that they have been unable to progress their plans to move, as the housing market came to an almost complete standstill. In the West Midlands, it has meant more than 30,000 home moves stalled, according to Zoopla.

I know that this can feel like your whole life is on hold – especially when vital things like starting a new job or registering your kids for school have to wait.

We’ve also seen a pause in the important work to build the homes we need, which has affected thousands of local jobs in the building supply chain, from bricklayers and plasterers to carpet fitters and removal workers.

A crisis of global proportions needed a massive response. We took those difficult decisions back in March to keep the country safe and thanks to your perseverance and patience, the infection rate is down.

These tremendous efforts have allowed us to move to the next phase of our fight against coronavirus and to take those first steps towards safely resuming our day-to-day lives.

It has also meant we can now restart and re-energise our housing market – helping move our lives forward again.

Restarting our housing market will also get our economy moving, helping pay for our vital public services that have been a lifeline for so many communities across the region.

But the restart can only work if it’s truly safe. That’s why we’ve issued new guidance on safely moving home.

The guidance is very clear and comprehensive – I encourage all home movers to read it in full on GOV.UK. But in essence, we have to maintain social distancing rules, including keeping a two-metre distance, and hygiene standards.

With this guidance in place, each of the building blocks of the buying and selling process has been restored, from estate agents to conveyancers.

For the West Midlands – with construction making up such an important part of our economy – it’s essential we also get building again.

Working with the Home Builders Federation, we have launched a new Safe Working Charter. The Charter commits developers to return to work, whilst ensuring they follow stringent health advice.

We’re also allowing builders to agree more flexible working hours on-site with their local council. This will make following the public health guidance on sites much easier, particularly for those jobs where proximity presents a challenge. By staggering the times our builders clock on and off, we can also make sure our public transport is less busy – reducing the risk of infection.

It’s something we’re already seeing work well at firms like Barratt Homes, where they’ve started a phased reopening of their local construction sites. It means vital new homes are being finished, but crucially, the health and safety of employees and customers are protected too.

I look forward to seeing more builders follow the guidance and safely return to work across the region, and I’m pleased West Midlands Mayor Andy Street has backed our Safe Working Charter.

Taken together, these measures – from building new homes to moving into your home– form a clear plan to help us safely resume our day-to-day business.

I recognise that, for a lot of people, there is still a long way to go before things will feel completely normal. It’s an unsettling time, but we must all play a role, by staying alert, controlling the virus and saving lives.

Midlanders are an innovative and inventive people. Just as we’re doing in the housing market, across the region I’m convinced we can find new ways of working that keep us all safe and that let us get on with life.