<p><span>The industry must harness the spirit it has shown during the pandemic as the country moves towards a “brighter future”, the housing minister Christopher Pincher said today (October 7). </span></p> <p><span>Speaking at the Housing Market Intelligence Conference in London, the housing minister noted the “remarkable resilience” the sector had shown </span><span>in responding to</span><span> Covid and the buoyancy of the housing market. He outlined the measures the government had taken to support the industry and more recent announcements including the Affordable Homes Programme, under which 32,000 social rent homes were set to be built, more than double than that offered in the previous programme. </span></p> <p><span>This, he said, was a good example of “levelling up,” the government’s ambitions for which last month prompted a name change to the minister’s department, to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). He also said that families and communities “building better lives” was “at the heart of levelling up”. </span></p> <p><span>Pincher stated that DLUHC would soon publish its response to its controversial planning white paper, stating that the new housing secretary Michael Gove “wants to </span><span>take t</span><span>ime listening” to the various groups of people “who’ve got an interest in planning. We’ll </span><span>make sure …