Rigger
Moderator
Housing shortage in UK (picked up off the BBC news site and adapted)
What would you do to alleviate the crisis?
For me ………..
2) Freestyle planning stops the tree huggers, and NIMBY’s, from obstructing planning applications
6) Guarantee mortgage payments reduce the deposit to 5% max, and underwrite any mortgage defaulters with a government backed insurance scheme.
8) Build more council homes we have been under building for the past 40 years, now is the time, with the building industry on it,s knee’s, to inject £billions into a national house building programme.
House’s ,Flats and maisonettes to be built as “private” residences model, not as sprawling “council estates” of the past. New Building “Projects” to include a full infrastructure of Schools, libraries, swimming pools, parks, football pitches, cinemas, theatres.
Retain say 50% of the housing stock for renting, sell the other 50% as privately owned property. The leisure facilities could be run by the local council or let/sold to private businesses
9) Increase Council Tax 30% on Empty/Vacant properties. This would get the owners of vacant properties to let at a lower rent and more quickly.
________________________________________________________________
Below are 8 suggestions, from bbc.co.uk , pick and mix at will, or add your own remedy
1) Encourage the elderly out of big houses
Campaigners say single people should also move out of large homes
One solution is to free up family housing by offering elderly people tax breaks to move into smaller homes, says one pressure group. The Intergenerational Foundation says more than a third of the housing stock is under-occupied, which means they have at least two spare bedrooms.
2) Freestyle planning
The government's proposed reform of the planning laws in England has generated much debate and attracted the anger of many groups, including the National Trust and the Campaign to Protect Rural England. Ministers want councils to adopt a "presumption in favour of sustainable development", making it harder for officials to reject proposals.
Proposed changes to the planning laws have raised concerns about Britain's green belt
Steve Turner, a spokesman for the Home Builders Federation, says the planning system has been an obstacle for growth for years. "For decades the planning system has not been delivering enough land to meet the housing needs of our population," he says.
3) Contain population growth
The number of households in England is projected to increase from 21.7m in 2008 to 27.5m by 2033, an increase of 5.8m or 27%. Over the same period, figures are projected to rise from 1.3m to 1.6m in Wales, and from 688,700 to 880,400 in Northern Ireland. The number of households in Scotland is projected to rise from 2.3m to 2.8m between 2008 and 2033 - an increase of 21%.Demand for housing is set to rise "There's been a remarkable silence on the impact of migration on housing demand," says Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migration Watch.
Citing the government's figures, he argues that more than a third of new households in England in the next 25 years will be the result of immigration. Even if house building were to increase by 25%, there would still be a shortage of 800,000 homes by 2033, the organisation claims.
4) Force landlords to sell or let empty properties
There are nearly one million empty homes in the UK, and 350,000 of them have been empty for more than six months.
Turning them into liveable homes could make a massive difference, says David Ireland, chief executive of the Empty Homes Agency. "If you could suddenly build 350,000 homes you wouldn't sniff at that. So those empty properties are worth having."
5) Ban second homes
In some parts of Britain holiday homes account for a substantial proportion of the housing stock. About one in 20 households across Cornwall is a second home and owners receive a council tax discount. There's a fundamental unfairness in the fact that there's no penalty on owning a second home, says Monbiot. "Why are they doing this? We should be rewarding social good."
About 13,500 properties in Cornwall are second homes
6) Guarantee mortgage payments
In these difficult economic times, a lack of mortgage availability is the short-term constraint on development, say house builders.
"If people can't buy, builders can't build," says Steve Turner from the Home Builders Federation.
Most first-time buyers need a large deposit to buy a home
Ways need to be found to encourage mortgage lenders to lend on terms that people can afford, he argues. The best way of doing this is for the government, house builders and mortgage lenders to club together to fund an insurance scheme that would underwrite mortgages where the lender defaults. Talks are in progress but these are complex negotiations, he admits.
7) Live with extended family
The general trend is for more people to live on their own rather than with a big family. But in southern European countries, such as Italy, it is much more common for families to live cheek-by-jowl.
It is not always one big happy family when generations move in together
By following this model of grandparents, children and grandchildren all living under one roof, the housing stock would be more efficiently distributed. In 2008 the Skipton Building Society predicted numbers following this model would triple over the following 20 years from 75,000 to 200,000 people.
Several generations often have no choice but to squeeze into the one home to keep costs down. And the UK has its own "boomerang" generation, where young people have to move back home because they cannot afford to get on the property ladder. But where there is a choice, most people would prefer a more private and comfortable living arrangement.
8) Build more council homes
Council homes have been part of British society for more than a century, from the "homes for heroes" cottages that were built in the wake of World War I to the much-maligned, monolithic high rises of the 60s and 70s.
But the "right-to-buy" phenomenon, started by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in 1979, led to a massive depletion in council housing stock, with more than two million tenants taking advantage of the scheme. And the building of council houses to let has almost died off, sending waiting lists through the roof.
Government figures show nearly 168,000 local authority homes were built across the UK in 1950, 88,530 in 1980 and 17,710 in 1990. In 2000, just 280 were built and in 2010, the figure was 1,320.
What would you do to alleviate the crisis?
For me ………..
2) Freestyle planning stops the tree huggers, and NIMBY’s, from obstructing planning applications
6) Guarantee mortgage payments reduce the deposit to 5% max, and underwrite any mortgage defaulters with a government backed insurance scheme.
8) Build more council homes we have been under building for the past 40 years, now is the time, with the building industry on it,s knee’s, to inject £billions into a national house building programme.
House’s ,Flats and maisonettes to be built as “private” residences model, not as sprawling “council estates” of the past. New Building “Projects” to include a full infrastructure of Schools, libraries, swimming pools, parks, football pitches, cinemas, theatres.
Retain say 50% of the housing stock for renting, sell the other 50% as privately owned property. The leisure facilities could be run by the local council or let/sold to private businesses
9) Increase Council Tax 30% on Empty/Vacant properties. This would get the owners of vacant properties to let at a lower rent and more quickly.
________________________________________________________________
Below are 8 suggestions, from bbc.co.uk , pick and mix at will, or add your own remedy
1) Encourage the elderly out of big houses
Campaigners say single people should also move out of large homes
One solution is to free up family housing by offering elderly people tax breaks to move into smaller homes, says one pressure group. The Intergenerational Foundation says more than a third of the housing stock is under-occupied, which means they have at least two spare bedrooms.
2) Freestyle planning
The government's proposed reform of the planning laws in England has generated much debate and attracted the anger of many groups, including the National Trust and the Campaign to Protect Rural England. Ministers want councils to adopt a "presumption in favour of sustainable development", making it harder for officials to reject proposals.
Proposed changes to the planning laws have raised concerns about Britain's green belt
Steve Turner, a spokesman for the Home Builders Federation, says the planning system has been an obstacle for growth for years. "For decades the planning system has not been delivering enough land to meet the housing needs of our population," he says.
3) Contain population growth
The number of households in England is projected to increase from 21.7m in 2008 to 27.5m by 2033, an increase of 5.8m or 27%. Over the same period, figures are projected to rise from 1.3m to 1.6m in Wales, and from 688,700 to 880,400 in Northern Ireland. The number of households in Scotland is projected to rise from 2.3m to 2.8m between 2008 and 2033 - an increase of 21%.Demand for housing is set to rise "There's been a remarkable silence on the impact of migration on housing demand," says Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migration Watch.
Citing the government's figures, he argues that more than a third of new households in England in the next 25 years will be the result of immigration. Even if house building were to increase by 25%, there would still be a shortage of 800,000 homes by 2033, the organisation claims.
4) Force landlords to sell or let empty properties
There are nearly one million empty homes in the UK, and 350,000 of them have been empty for more than six months.
Turning them into liveable homes could make a massive difference, says David Ireland, chief executive of the Empty Homes Agency. "If you could suddenly build 350,000 homes you wouldn't sniff at that. So those empty properties are worth having."
5) Ban second homes
In some parts of Britain holiday homes account for a substantial proportion of the housing stock. About one in 20 households across Cornwall is a second home and owners receive a council tax discount. There's a fundamental unfairness in the fact that there's no penalty on owning a second home, says Monbiot. "Why are they doing this? We should be rewarding social good."
About 13,500 properties in Cornwall are second homes
6) Guarantee mortgage payments
In these difficult economic times, a lack of mortgage availability is the short-term constraint on development, say house builders.
"If people can't buy, builders can't build," says Steve Turner from the Home Builders Federation.
Most first-time buyers need a large deposit to buy a home
Ways need to be found to encourage mortgage lenders to lend on terms that people can afford, he argues. The best way of doing this is for the government, house builders and mortgage lenders to club together to fund an insurance scheme that would underwrite mortgages where the lender defaults. Talks are in progress but these are complex negotiations, he admits.
7) Live with extended family
The general trend is for more people to live on their own rather than with a big family. But in southern European countries, such as Italy, it is much more common for families to live cheek-by-jowl.
It is not always one big happy family when generations move in together
By following this model of grandparents, children and grandchildren all living under one roof, the housing stock would be more efficiently distributed. In 2008 the Skipton Building Society predicted numbers following this model would triple over the following 20 years from 75,000 to 200,000 people.
Several generations often have no choice but to squeeze into the one home to keep costs down. And the UK has its own "boomerang" generation, where young people have to move back home because they cannot afford to get on the property ladder. But where there is a choice, most people would prefer a more private and comfortable living arrangement.
8) Build more council homes
Council homes have been part of British society for more than a century, from the "homes for heroes" cottages that were built in the wake of World War I to the much-maligned, monolithic high rises of the 60s and 70s.
But the "right-to-buy" phenomenon, started by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in 1979, led to a massive depletion in council housing stock, with more than two million tenants taking advantage of the scheme. And the building of council houses to let has almost died off, sending waiting lists through the roof.
Government figures show nearly 168,000 local authority homes were built across the UK in 1950, 88,530 in 1980 and 17,710 in 1990. In 2000, just 280 were built and in 2010, the figure was 1,320.
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