The Labour Party enjoyed an historic landslide victory in yesterday’s general election, securing a majority of 174 seats.

The incumbent Conservative Party suffered a dismal evening, losing 251 seats, leaving the party with 121 MPs.

Elsewhere, the Liberal Democrats secured their greatest ever election result, with 71 seats. The Scottish National Party, meanwhile, saw their vote collapse, losing 37 seats, and ending the evening on nine.

The far right anti-immigration Reform party saw four MPs elected, including the party’s leader, TV presenter Nigel Farage, who took the constituency of Clacton. The Green Party also managed to secure four seats, its best ever result.

But what will the new government mean for housing?

Andy Hulme, Chief Executive of The Hyde Group, said: “After the challenges of the last few years and the political uncertainty that has accompanied much of it, it’s welcome to see a government with a clear manifesto commitment to deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable house building in a generation.

“There have been some positive remarks about housing featuring in the early priorities of the government, a commitment to ‘deeds, not words’, so the sector will eagerly await more detail on what implementing these positive proposals will mean.

“Given the scale of housing challenge people across the country face, with huge numbers of children and families living in temporary accommodation or poor quality insecure private rented housing, there is no time to lose.

“Not-for-profit housing charities, like Hyde, build over a fifth of all new homes in the UK, and we’ve been warning for months that affordable housing starts were set to plummet. The 96% drop in the number of homes started by housing associations in London at the end of the last year being one of the pieces of evidence of this. The scale of the housing crisis, and demand for affordable homes, in London and many other areas means we must see a stark shift in delivery.

“While the challenges people and the sector face are clear, so are the solutions needed to help unlock additional housing supply.

“In the next settlement for social housing rents, it’s vitally important this government delivers long-term certainty to help us unlock additional private sector investment with a ten-year, inflation-linked settlement and a ten-year funding programme to build more affordable homes. Investors making long-term investment decisions need long-term stability and funding commitments from national government.

“After a decade of uncertainty on rents and falling funding for new affordable homes we need this government to create a stable environment, so we can maximise private investment to deliver more of the homes this country so desperately needs, alongside government funding for the biggest boost to affordable and social housing in a generation.”

John Glenton, Executive Director of Care and Support at Riverside, said: “Today marks a new chapter for the country. Labour has outlined ambitious plans for the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation.

“As one of the country’s largest providers of social housing and accommodation for people affected by homelessness, we have first-hand experience of dealing with the housing crisis in more than 175 local authority areas.

“This scarcity of housing supply is creating a humanitarian crisis as more and more families are priced out of housing and end up living in temporary accommodation. As of December 31st 2023, official government data shows we had 112,660 homeless households and 145,800 homeless children living in temporary accommodation.

“This situation is also causing a financial crisis for local government with councils in England spending more than £1.7bn on temporary accommodation last year – double the amount they spent seven years ago.

“The new government needs to take an invest to save approach if we are to ease the housing crisis and be successful in reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. As the economy grows, the provision of social and affordable housing must become a top spending priority.”

“For too long housing has not had the priority it deserves. To tackle the housing crisis, we need the government and providers to work together to create a long-term plan for housing, prevent homelessness and shape a fairer welfare system.”

Mark Perry, Chief Executive of VIVID, said: “The new government is a chance to renew our efforts to tackle the housing crisis. With 1.3 million people unable to afford the home they need, and nearly 150,000 children living in temporary housing, we’re hoping to see a step change in policy with some reforms introduced at pace.

“We particularly welcome the Labour’s commitment to build 1.5 million new homes.

“It’s important that changes are properly informed and shaped by the experience of social housing providers, so we’re ready to engage with the Labour team and help make a real difference.”