Speaking in an interview with the BBC, Lewis said that building "something like a million homes" by the end of the end of the current parliament would be considered a "success". He said the government intended to make housing development easier, particularly on previously developed sites where a "principle of development" would be introduced by proposed planning changes.
The Labour Party and the Liberal Democrat Party included overall targets of "at least 200,000" homes per year and 300,000 homes per year, respectively, in their manifestos for the May 2015 general election. However, the Conservative Party manifesto steered clear of setting an overall target, pledging only to deliver 200,000 new 'starter homes' for first time buyers under the age of 40.
Whilst delivering 200,000 homes per year until 2020 would require a significant increase on the 136,320 homes on which construction was started in the year to June 2015, housing association representative body the National Housing Federation (NHF) claimed in the BBC programme that 245,000 new homes per year were actually needed in England.
NHF director of policy and external affairs Gill Payne said housing associations had "ambitions to work in partnership with government to vastly increase" the numbers of homes they were building.
Planning expert Helen Stewart of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com said: "The minister’s statement has attracted much commentary this week and is the nearest we can expect the government to give in terms of an explicit housing target. Whilst this is an ambitious aspiration, it is still unlikely to meet demand and is one which many will maintain is undeliverable on the basis of current policies. Many have interpreted it as a direct response to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s pledges on securing housing growth and Labour’s proposal of a reinvigorated council housing programme."