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Topic for December 2022 - Tackling the Housing Crisis
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Overcoming the ever-deepening Housing Crisis
We first tackled this topic back in 2015 and this is the latest discussion.
The Agenda on this occasion is:
What is the housing situation (owner and rental) compared to when we were young?
What are the parameters that make this a crisis?
Was it entirely foreseeable? Have successive generations of politician failed to plan for the long-term?
What are the relative merits of renting and owning? What would be the implications if more people did rent? Would it help or hinder the housing situation?
What are the big issues that need to be tackled, are they any different to those we identified two years ago?
- Availability - Shortfall in homes available and insufficient housebuilding to catch up. Decline in social house-building.
- Affordability – house prices and rental prices in proportion to income levels. House price inflation compared to general inflation
- Decline in home ownership – reduction of aspiration
- Homelessness
- Sub-standard or overcrowded or inappropriate accommodation. Regulation of rented housing in both social and private sector.
- Population Growth
- Planning Delays, land availability, vested interests and other barriers to speedy developments
- Different aspects of housing across different Government Departments
Does the Levelling Up strategy help or hinder?
What will be the impact of Michael Gove’s recent concession on Housing Targets
What are the answers
How do we re-think housing, how can we transform the situation? Can we build differently – factory built, modern methods v bricks and mortar
Useful Information Sources
Housing | Key issues | UNISON National
How do we fix the UK housing crisis? | Housing market | The Guardian
https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/housing-in-england-issues-statistics-and-commentary/
and an interesting example of licensing in action:
Update on private housing licensing schemes - Latest News - News Updates - Charnwood Borough Council
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The discussion on this topic has been used to update our previous 'Considered Proposal' on the subject to version 5.0.
We found the issues largely unchanged, our previous proposals still relevant and we added a number of further proposals.
The updated document is available at Tackling the Housing Crisis - Issue 5