King’s Speech 2024: Housing, communities and local government

This research briefing sets out the Labour Party’s commitments covering housing, communities and local government detailed in its manifesto and other materials. This includes commitments on housebuilding, the creation of new towns, planning and support for private renters.

1. Housebuilding

The Labour Party’s manifesto includes a commitment to building 1.5mn new homes over the next Parliament. To achieve this, Labour outlined several proposals. This included prioritising the development of previously developed land (known as ‘brownfield sites’), adopting a more “strategic approach” to the designation and release of green belt land and reforming compulsory purchase compensation rules to “speed up site delivery, and deliver housing, infrastructure, amenity, and transport benefits in the public interest”.

2. Creation of new towns and housing affordability

The Labour Party also committed to the creation of new towns. In May 2024, then deputy leader Angela Rayner announced that a Labour government would create new towns as part of its commitment to building 1.5mn new homes. As part of this, the party aimed to create a New Towns Commission within six months of a Labour government being in place, with a list of potential sites to be determined within a year. Additionally, the manifesto included support for first-time buyers, proposing the introduction of a permanent, comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme aimed at providing lower mortgage costs.

3. Planning

The Labour Party has made several planning-related pledges both in its manifesto and since entering government. These include plans to reform the national planning policy framework, restore mandatory housing targets, create a new taskforce to “accelerate stalled housing sites” in England, and appoint an additional 300 planning officers to support local authorities.

4. Private rented sector

Labour has also pledged to overhaul the private rented sector. The manifesto proposed the immediate abolition of section 21 “no-fault” evictions to prevent discrimination against private renters and empower them to challenge “unreasonable” rent increases. The party also pledged to take steps to raise housing standards in the sector, including extending ‘Awaab’s Law’ to private rentals. The law was named after Awaab Ishak, a toddler who died in 2020 due to a respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to damp and mould in his housing association home in Rochdale.

5. Other proposals

The Labour Party also made other commitments, including pledging to introduce regulations to improve building safety and committing to working with mayors and councils to end homelessness.

The Library’s briefings for the King’s Speech draw on the Labour Party’s manifesto and other material in the public domain. They have been written in advance of the 2024 King’s Speech to help members of the House of Lords prepare for the debate on the speech. They do not constitute official information about the government’s intentions or provide a complete list of bills to be announced.