To think their is no housing crisis.

[AmazingAmy]

Instead their is a geographical jobs crisis, some nothern towns have streets of houses empty. Why because their is no jobs in many northern towns. London and other big towns are the only places of decent employment prospects.

However in London their is a housing crisis due to lack of building.

I guess yes not enough return, I've come across it in relation to remortgaging. But I'm not a mortgage expert, so it may be possible as I said above and am happy to be corrected.

If the house needs 10k+ spending on it to make it habitable that is also a massive barrier to those on low incomes.

Sorry but the OP makes a good point. She is I thikn trying to point out that it is a complex problem and not just a "build more houses" situation.

The housing crisis is real in terms of the individual - Family A needs a house in the area they live in and there is neither social housing availble nor affordable accommodation (rented or properties to buy).

That situation has been exploited by government and big business to allow HUGE developments in swathes of countryside and "pop-up" dwellings in gardens and garages for people. STill nothing affordable for poorer people though - great for "investors".

I live in London and every square inch is being built on. What were garages, roof spaces, gardesn, small businesses, railway embankments, sports pitches - you name it - it ihas been built on. There are not enough school places or road space, GPs or dentists - and yet they keep building and people keep buying.

According to the BBC yesterday the net immigration to the UK was 318,000 in 2014. - All need a home. We cannot build another 318,000 houses here - and the same in 2015. Also foreign investors are actively encouraged to buy land in the UK - and never live here - expecially in London.

Yet this is not discussed in the context of housing. (It makes you a racist to mention it)

In the meantime there are houses that are empty in areas other than the South East and the major cities which would be affordable if there were jobs.

That does not mean that there is not a crisis for individual families - there is - myself included - but there is not a national shortage - it is an excuse to misdirect people.

I live in an area with one of the lowest population density's in the whole of the UK and there is still a housing crisis:

• lack of affordable homes
• lone residents living in homes that when built would have had a family of 6 and a staff of 4 living in them (and on plots that nowadays would take 4 family homes or 12-18 flats)
• second homes that sit empty the bulk of the year, while families have to move away and shops shut
• lack of infrastructure to support significant expansion. people expect to be able to drive on a road, get electricity, be reasonable distance from schools and hospitals - it's not as easy as just throwing up some housing

Years ago the minimum mortgage was 25k, anything below that was regulated under the Consumer Credit Act (I think).

The best schemes for those areas where there are very cheap houses going empty is to allow young people (who can raise at least 20k - by way of a loan only- for referbishment) to have them for 1. Put a restrictive covenant on each property preventing it from EVER being let (so it MUST be owner-occupied) and start to regenerate those areas. It'll take a generation, but I thikn it's doable. It needs to be done on a fairly large scale. Were I a twenty-something person now, I'd jump at that sort of chance.

That's a colossal amount of people to house. There isn't enough housing.

it really isn't. Population growth in America, Canada, Australia, and Switzerland is much higher.

And before you say places like Canada and Australia are much bigger, most of the population growth is in the densest parts.

for the graph that was posted earlier, what is your definition of affordable homes?

in the town where I grew up, new estates, with "affordable" homes suffer from two issues.

1, the houses are tiny, - I know they are only meant to be starter homes!
2, they cost a quarter of a million pounds!

I understand the OPs view point, how can you say that there is a huge shortage of houses, and that they are unaffordable when you have issue like rows of boarded up houses, or Liverpool council selling homes for £1.

It's just a view that ignores lots of other factors...

YABVU

The housing crisis is not 'just' about the supply of housing. It is also about:

• the standard, or should I say sub-standard, of accommodation
• the density and ability of housing to meet the needs of people, including vulnerable groups such as the elderly and disabled
• the affordability of housing, and the pressure that this puts on families when the majority of their income goes on housing
• the availablility of housing within reach of employment
• overcrowding in housing

However, even if you focus solely on the supply of housing - there is still a crisis in the country. If you solved all the issues of overcowding, under-occupation and mismatch of supply and demand there still wouldn't be enough housing in this country - and there wouldn't be enough being built to cope with continued increase in demand.

OP - I suggest you do some proper reading up on the matter if you actually want to understand.

There are some good documents (PDFs) linked on this page england.shelter.org.uk/campaigns/why_we_campaign/the_housing_crisis/what_is_the_housing_crisis

And of course you can see the full, evidence and statistics that have not been spun to create a good story on the DCLG pages www.gov.uk/government/topics/housing

However, even if you focus solely on the supply of housing - there is still a crisis in the country.

most of the problems you mention would be alleviated by increasing supply. For example, prices will come down dramatically if supply rose dramatically, as will standards.

Tobysmum. No not everyone is in a relationship or buys in a pair which is why I said 'most' people not everyone. Those who are single and on minimum wage have few choices admittedly but there are shared houses etc. What do you suggest? Free housing. Ummm. Cheap? Who ultomitately pays for that? You and me and everyone else .

funny someone should mention Canada. Canada has very little social housing. they have an adequate supply of rental accommodation. just a thought maybe the problem is social housing and the reverse that social housing is the solution is the wrong way to approach things.
what social housing there is, is all controlled by one non government body. some people have formed co-op housing units (similar maybe to vintage counsil estates) with very tight rules and regulations.
again ideas worth exploring.

but mint we pay for it as it is through housing benefit. If there was more housing built and it was cheaper there would be no need for most people. My opinion is that the government's role is to provide the infrastructure for the vast majority of people to succeed independently. I am more than happy to pay for that.

Canada has very little social housing.

Canada and the UK have very different histories too. Canada's various governments were never one of the big home builders, whereas in the UK the shortage after the war was a huge crisis.

Canada also doesn't have pages upon pages of planning restriction. Cities are certainly less pretty (they have a modern look), but not every structure including awful eyesores that are literally falling apart are listed.