S2025E32: The Race to Build 1.5 Million Homes

The UK’s housing crisis is deepening. Rents have rocketed, and for many, house prices are out of reach and the dream of owning a home is slipping away. Now the government’s made a very big promise: to build 1.5 million new homes in England by 2029. Can it be done? Anita Rani and Justin Rowlatt travel from South Tyneside to the Isle of Wight to find out. Along the way, they discover the secret to making bricks, explore the mind-boggling complexity of the planning system and meet the new housing secretary, who is promising to build, baby, build. Will the government hit its target - and will it make housing more affordable if it does?