Director of UK Housebuilder Pledges to Sleep Rough for a Night in November

A director of one of the U.K.'s largest housebuilders has pledged to sleep rough for one night in November to draw attention to Britain's housing shortage, which experts have predicted could leave over 20,000 people homeless by 2015.

Sue Warwick, National Head of Sales and Marketing for Miller Homes has decided to experience sleeping rough for herself after a number of reports show Britain is on the edge of the worst housing shortage since World War II. Just 130,000 new homes are being built a year, which is considerably less than the predicted requirement of 280,000.

A recent report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) found Britain needs 750,000 new homes by 2025 in order to cope with the expanding population. However lack of planning policy, consumer confidence and mortgage supply has meant the building programme has more or less ground to a halt, and it's expected that the full effects will be felt during the next few years.
Miller Homes think the housing shortage is merely the tip of the iceberg, and predicts that many Britons will feel the effect of the problem before the beginning of the next decade. One of the effects of the housing shortage is that house prices could reach an all-time high by 2015.

Sue Warwick commented "We are in a position where we have more households than houses. This is a dreadful situation, and one that could have been avoided as we now stare down the barrel at the worst housing shortage this country has seen since World War II."

Miller Homes involvement with this fundraiser comes within weeks of the government announcement that planning laws are to be simplified, but 60,000 new homes are needed per quarter to meet the current shortfall in demand.

Sue went on to say "We strongly believe that everybody deserves to own a place they can call home, and the government needs to ensure that future generations are able to afford what is wrongly now seen as a privilege rather than a right. We must get to grips with the demand for housing before it is too late."

Sue will be sleeping out in London's Exchange Square in the heart of the city on 10th of November, as part of an event hosted by Centrepoint, the national charity which aims to help homeless people have a future. If you are interested in supporting Sue’s fundraiser, visit her JustGiving page. You can also find more information on Miller Homes website.