<p>Almost 40,000 fewer homes were built in England and Wales in Q2 2020 year-on-year due to Covid-19, with a new report from the Home Builders Federation (HBF) highlighting the important community benefits that could be lost from these homes not being built. </p> <p>HBF pointed to government figures showing that between March and June, 38,700 fewer new homes were built than in the same period last year – 30,394 compared to Q2 2019’s 69,100. This was a “staggering decline”, HBF said, when the industry had planned for year-on-year growth.</p> <p>“These figures also highlight the wider impact for local communities given the subsequent loss of local contributions and community benefits that come with the development of new homes,” it added.</p> <p>HBF’s report, <i>Building Communities: Making Place a Home</i>, quantifies the levels of community investment that housebuilders undertake “in real world terms”. Within the report, government figures show that developers have made contributions – via Section 106 agreements and other mechanisms - of more than £7 billion in the past year. </p> <p>In sector-specific examples, in education enough has been raised from contributions to recruit 8,500 new teachers, in green spaces to plant 8.6 million trees and in council tax to build …