Housing target missed but mayor praises construction effort

Marvin Rees, councillor Tom Renhard and Stephen Baker, from Goram Homes, visited new housing in Lockleaze in Bristol on Thursday

More than 12,000 new homes have been built in Bristol since current mayor Marvin Rees made it a key election pledge.

The number means he has just missed out on hitting his target of 2,000 new homes a year - half of them affordable - by the time he leaves the role in 2024.

Mr Rees said he would have liked to have done more, but that Bristol had "bucked a national trend" for new home construction.

Around 16% of the homes built since 2016 are student accommodation.

A further 3,040 new homes were being built as of 1 April 2023. Between the end of March this year and 2016/17, 12,534 new homes were built in Bristol. This averages out to 1,790 new homes per year.

'Lives are being changed'

Mr Rees said around 88% of the homes built under his administration were on brownfield land, which he said was key as the city faces up to a "climate and ecological emergency".

"We said we wanted to get Bristol building, we think it's critical for the housing crisis in and of itself, but it's also the key tool we have for population health, resilience and underpinning our economy.

"We've had a singular focus on it and the numbers released today are great.

"Of course we wish we could have done more because the [housing] crisis is real in so many people's lives."

Factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit had played a part in the 2,000-a-year target not being hit, Mr Rees added.

"We've had some quite considerable headwinds," he said.

"But we have bucked a national trend in terms of delivery, which is why so much of the country is looking to us and we've won so many plaudits.

"Lives are being changed through the homes we've built."

Bristol faces high house prices and rents

Bristol faces several housing challenges. Rents are high, the city's housing waiting list stands at more than 20,000, and there are currently 1,200 families in temporary accommodation.

"There are things that are out of our control," said Mr Rees.

"But there are things that we can do, and everything we can do, we have done to get homes built for Bristol people."

The figures, released during a visit by the mayor to One Lockleaze, a new development being constructed by the council's housing company Goram Homes, showed 2,022 of the new homes in Bristol since 2016 are student units.