Andy Burnham's government needs 300 people to join the construction workforce each day to reach its housebuilding target, but is instead losing 200 a day, according to new research.
Target in jeopardy
Labour's 2024 manifesto set an ambition to build 1.5 million new homes in England 'over the next parliament'. However, only 143,110 houses were built last year – almost 10,000 fewer than the previous year and the lowest annual total since 2015/16.
Researchers at Land Value Calculator (LVC) found that hundreds of thousands more workers are needed. To hit the target by July 2029, 1,008 new homes are needed daily, but the current rate is 547 a day – a required increase of 84%.
Workforce decline
Using Office for National Statistics data, LVC calculated around 345,000 more workers are needed by July 2029, equivalent to about 300 each day. However, the construction workforce shrank by 78,878 in the past year, meaning 200 workers were lost daily.
An LVC spokesperson said: 'That is not a housing programme, it is a staffing shortage with a housing target attached.'
Government response
Construction industry body CITB predicts the workforce in England will fall by 0.9% this year before growing slightly each year until 2030, but numbers are still expected to remain below 2019 levels.
A Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government spokesperson said: 'We're backing the construction sector with £625 million to bring in up to 60,000 construction workers, and providing an additional £1.2 billion for skills so we can train even more builders by 2029. Alongside our planning reforms and the £16 billion National Housing Bank this will ensure we build the homes this country needs.'
Rayner's commitment
Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, who first implemented the target after the 2024 election before resigning in September 2025, returned to the role under Burnham. She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'That commitment was very challenging before when I came into government. It's certainly got more challenging, and we've seen things like construction costs go up, which has had a real negative impact on that. But I'm not dropping it. I'm just saying that it is a really difficult stretch target.'
She compared keeping the target to 'saying I'm going to run the London Marathon in under five hours', adding: 'That would be a real challenge for me, but I'd do it.'
Council housebuilding pledge
Burnham has pledged the biggest council housebuilding programme since the post-war period. In the 35 years after the Second World War, more than 4.4 million council houses were built, with 200,000 in 1954 alone, according to the University of the Built Environment.
While major planning changes are now law, the government faces pressure from rising construction costs and global economic issues such as those stemming from the Iran war.
