This election is extraordinary because for the first time in a very long time, housing is a top issue. All the political parties have something to say about it and are making pledges left, right and centre. But what exactly is being offered, and are these promises likely to lead to a real solution to the housing mess many of us find ourselves living in?
The housing crisis is a multifaceted thing, and my situation represents just one of those faces. My renter profile is familiar: professional in full-time employment; over 40; married with young children; a long-term private renter. I know there are a lot of people like me. Judging by the type of pledges made, I also surmise that politicians find this group the easiest to ‘deal with’. Maybe that's because we appear to fit nicely into the ‘hardworking family’ rhetoric with which they are so enamoured, or maybe they think us likely to vote.
Let's start off with that ‘private renter’ aspect of my profile. Labour talk of making three year tenancies standard, thereby reducing the number of moves within the sector, and limiting rent rises to the rate of inflation over a three year period. They say they'll also regulate the sector through a register of landlords and the (mildly) punitive treatment of ‘rogue landlords’ who keep poorly maintained properties. The Lib Dems place some focus on rental properties too, saying they will force landlords to adequately insulate properties. The Greens promise five year tenancies and capped rents. The Tories, meanwhile, have said nothing. The cynic in me might wonder how effective any of these policies will be, but at least they are a good first step towards building a better and more equal private rental sector.
Helping private renters is one thing, but when it comes to first time buyers, the parties have come out all guns blazing. There is a whole array of promises on offer designed to provide me with what politicians think I want and so will be swayed to vote for - a home of my own. The Conservatives are pledging 200,000 new homes specifically for first time buyers under 40 at a 20% discount. They want to help me to save a deposit through an ISA and they will continue their Help To Buy scheme which allows smaller deposits and lower repayments for a set period of time. Not wishing to be outdone, Labour want to give those who've lived in an area for three years first choice of 50% of the new builds in an area. In addition, they intend to suspend the payment of stamp duty for three years for first time buyers on properties up to £300k.
None of this is much good to me though: I'm over 40; I have no money to save because I'm paying rent and have a family; haven’t lived in the same area for three years because being a private renter means I have to move a lot; and won’t be able to raise the mortgage required thanks to my huge monthly outgoings which will be scrutinized in accordance with stricter lending rules. For me - and I imagine for lots of you – the first time buyer promises are of little practical use.
However, the glaring problem with all of these promises is that whilst they might help a few people on an individual level, they won’t manage the crisis as a whole. The overwhelming focus on first time buyers seems to ignore the fact that this housing crisis is not all about them. It's also people like Janice, who lives with her family in a room in a homeless hostel and has done for five and a half years. What's on offer for her? Or people like Stacie, living with leukaemia in the private rental sector with her daughter who has severe disabilities and yet still unable to get to the top of a social housing list to access suitable accommodation. Or Jasmin, who was forced out of the London borough she has known all her life by extortionate rents. These people are affected by this crisis too, but they are so much less attractive in terms of policy making, it seems. This much I know: the solution to their housing crises are the solution to mine too.
The political parties are right to identify me as an aspiring homeowner, but they are wrong to class me an individualist. Along with the worries I have about my family's immediate situation I have other broader concerns linked to the situations Janice, Stacie and Jasmin and many others find themselves in. Those will not be alleviated by helping me to buy a house or to remain in my privately rented house, but by building more - and particularly building more social and genuinely affordable housing - and that is something none of the major parties seem willing to commit to, with the exception of the Greens. What the mainstream parties consistently fail to realise is that as much as people care about ‘me and mine’, they also care about what happens to their neighbours and in their communities. Who is offering us a housing solution that doesn't leave hundreds of thousands of people still floundering? That doesn't mean others lose when people like me gain? Nobody, as far as I can see.