Following the debate about how many houses are needed in the UK, industry-expert Peter Brown directs our attention to a topic this argument could be overshadowing. The debate around how many new homes are needed misjudges the big issue – a new Labour government will struggle to increase housing completions for sale and for rent. Public services are failing, satisfaction rates are at record lows and waiting lists are soaring. Focusing on hospitals, schools and the courts, the IPPR claimed that public services won’t return to acceptable levels of quality until the 2030s and that the post-election government will inherit one of the most challenging contexts of any government since the Second World War. In October, at the Labour Party conference Keir Starmer’s pledged 1.5 million homes over the next parliament and conference was told that a Labour government will “deliver the biggest boost in affordable and social housing for a generation”. Yet despite a chronic housing shortage, a n