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The Coalition has made a number of attempts to ‘restart’ or ‘boost’ or ‘kickstart’ housebuilding,
latest of which involves bowing to developers’ complaints over affordable housing commitments negotiated with local authorities as part of the planning process. Scrap or water down these commitments, and voila, a heap of suddenly viable projects, supposedly.
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But is this the right solution? The LGA, keen to inject some facts into the debate, notes that there are enough approvals ‘in the system’ for 400,000 new homes and three years of building, saying this shows that the planning system is not the problem. Approval rates are at a 10-year high.
Everyone knows there is nowhere near enough
the
Construction has been absolutely hammered in this recession, but the big housebuilders say the Government’s new measures are necessary but not suffi cient: while they welcome the new rules on affordable housing renegotiations,
An unaffordable crisis T
he Government desperately wants a boom in housebuild-
ing. The current mismatch between supply and demand, made more complex because of a shortage of af- fordable mortgages, drives a num- ber of other societal and fi nancial problems, not least the staggering and spiralling housing benefi t bill.
Housebuilding is also a labour- intensive activity, and needs a mix of jobs at different skill levels, making it an ideal method of economic stimulus.
social housing, which is why housing benefi t paid to private renters has been on the up for years.
Housing is in a crisis, but as Labour’s Hilary Benn argues, it is a completely hidden crisis for millions of ‘well-housed’ people who are sceptical or unpersuaded that things are so bad. For many of the homeowners among this group, a lack of supply in the housing market suits them down to the ground, of course, since it can act to make their own property worth more.
they do not pretend this will solve the problem. Instead they blame low mortgage availability.
Are banks to blame, then, or are they just being cautious having been so reckless for so long? Few people are arguing that they should be offering mortgages to people who can’t afford them. Most people remember how that ended last time.
But obviously, the after-effects of that crisis and the recession mean there are fewer people who can afford to move anyway.
On this, the Government’s measures always seem welcome, but never anywhere near enough.
Adam Hewitt Editor
16 Outcome scenarios Chris Painter examines the future for public services reform.
37 Test drive
Milton Keynes wants to be a testbed for sustainable transport.
42 Innovation nation Nesta’s Stian Westlake on public procurement innovation.
54 i-Travel York’s attempts to get people out of their cars gets going.
public sector executive Sep/Oct 12 | 1
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