Angela from Housing

[billysboy]

Ainu to think Angela Rayners has been set up to fail on her 1.5m homes target ?
you can barely get planning permission through for a small extension in under 10 weeks let alone 1.5 m new homes
Every month that goes by the shortage compounds
I wonder if Kier has set her up to fail

Hey OP. Can you talk us through the nicknames you use for male politicians that minimise their position? Maybe just the top ten.

@AsFunAsEnglishWeather

"If Nasty Nigel hadn't whipped up support for Brexit by promising people a load of nonsense and fairytales, the farmers would be a lot less screwed than they currently are. IHT is a drop in the ocean compared to the loss of EU subsidies"

And farmers are still supporting Farage unbelievably! I've seen photos of farmers happily posing with him yesterday at the protest in London. He is still whipping up support.

No farmer protests when the subsidy cut was announced - funny that!

The whole planning system needs abolishing and starting again . Stop all these stupid rules about designated areas only for this that and the other . Stop protecting ' countryside ' areas that are not even countryside . Stop thinking about large developments and let small builders and individuals do their thing . Let each planning application be judged on its own merit not on what ' rules ' apply to the location of the application. . No Angela won't hit anything like her targets , not enough planning consultants/ council planning departments understaffed , will take years to train new ones . The homes being built will not last as the quality is poor . Developers don't want to provide ' affordable housing ' in the SE because they can get more money if sold on the open market . People buying privately don't want to live side by side with social housing .
The whole housing sector is a car crash never mind leasehold scandals and the disgusting uninhabitable state of existing social housing . Anyone who's listened to Trapped podcast by ITN's Daniel Hewitt will get an idea of how bad things are .

I totally agree that immigration is not the issue, but studies have shown that the impacts of urban cramming (brownfield first approach to development) incorrectly validates far right rhetoric of creaking and lack of local resources. This then further drives racism and division.

I personally quite like Angela and hope that she can persuade the government to properly fund and provide mass social housing building because that is what is absolutely needed.

One of the main drivers for the cost of living crisis is the affordability of housing… yet in the late 70s when there was an abundance of social housing my father was able to buy a house with a loan of just under twice his own salary only with a modest 20% deposit.

Now people are needing to borrow five times their salary to be able to buy a home…. leaving them very vulnerable to interest rate rises. In essence we have created a housing market that requires everyone to hand over huge amounts of money to banks each month to support the profiteering of private house builders.

With the alternative options of inflated rents from private landlords something has to change.

The private sector approach lead house building has failed since the 1980s and social housing sold off on the cheap has only made the situation ever worse…. and the competition to secure council homes is just insane as it forces people to bid against each other!

Let’s just allow that to sink in…. we make people bid against each other just to have a home….

Mass social house building does stimulate the economy too, kitchen and bathrooms need to be bought, flooring fitted, curtains and furniture bought, and these become more affordable for tenants because of lower rent prices. It could also be a springboard for apprenticeships and careers in the construction industry too!

If we want our economy to grow we need to fundamentally address the housing crisis properly and build homes for everyone!

Surely that was the previous government's policy?

I can help here:

Starmer - Never Here Keir
Pat McFaddon - The fighting prince of Donegal
Yvette Cooper - Mrs Ballsup
John Healy - The Rydale Renegade
Ed Miilliband - Red Ed or the Millipede

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cew5rylqj2ko

So where do people live?

We have an aging population who are holding onto their homes, and a rise in single occupancy households due to divorce, sure this isn’t a popular as blaming immigration but it’s definitely driving the need for more homes!

• In 2023, 8.4 million people lived alone in the UK, which is 13% of the population and 29% of all households were retired.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/chapters-for-english-housing-survey-2023-to-2024-headline-findings-on-demographics-and-household-resilience/chapter-1-profile-of-households-and-dwellings#:~:text=There%20was%20an%20increase%20in%20the%20number%20and%20proportion%20of,%25%20(single%20female)%20respectively.

@envbeckyc Really insightful points and lots of agreement from me (I hope you didn’t think my last post was all in response to you - just agreement on the need for social housing and then wider comments on what’s been discussed on this thread).

And yes, similar story with my own parents with mortgage rates in the 1970s with average-waged working families being able to buy a property near to their extended family support networks.This is out of reach for so many similar families now. And so many other factors to consider too - for example, how can you apply for a mortgage on a zero hours contract? How do young adults trying to start on the property ladder now compete with wealthy landlords bidding against them for properties?

We also need consider the rise of second homes; in 2021-2022, 2.1 million households reported having at least one second property - primary reasons were investment and holiday homes. Many of those holiday homes will be in rural and coastal areas, reducing housing stock for locals and raising housing prices in the area; this is something many young families are currently struggling with.

But isn't the lack of protests on the subisidy front simply because the EU basic payment scheme was replaced by different, nation specific, schemes in the UK? As I undertand it total spend was committed to remain the same, and although this government is moving away from incetivising farming for envirnomental measures and back to an output based scheme (a retrograde step IMO) the actual amount spent is unchanged?

I think 'free gear Kier' has a better ring ;)

But having someone in charge of social housing who was raised in social housing and who understands the situation that so many families are facing can be seen as a positive

I stayed in many hundreds of hotels so have a lot of experience. Doesn't mean I have a faintest idea how to run hotel business

No, of course not.

But having politicians who come from varied backgrounds and having lived experienced the challenges many of the population face, is really important and valuable.

Rayner has been very vocal about her ambitions and strategy for social housing for a long time, and her own personal experience impacted that massively - she campaigned for the election on this and was successful. She rose through the unions into politics based on her competency and the voice she gave to people from her background. She was elected as Deputy Leader by Labour Party members. She has succeeded through all the processes and routes we have. If you have an issue with that, then you should seek political reform.

Why haven't previous Secretaries of State for Housing in the previous 14 years prioritised social housing to the same extent she is now, do you think?

Research shows that poor quality and insecure housing impacts on children's health, education and life chances - she's lived this and knows it to be true, which is some of what has driven her.

Yes, she's a Savior. Is she competent though?

To resolve housing crisis without concreting ancient woodlands UK urban population needs cultural shift of moving from private houses to blocks of flats, the same as entire urban population in the rest of the world.
To make this happen new builds have to be blocks surrounded by some green spaces and kids playgrounds but of appropriate quality, with decent floor space, storage, sound insulation, eat in kitchens etc. This can be relatively easy to achieve through proper building regulations.
Such blocks are dramatically cheaper to build, sites can be found in the areas where people actually want to leave and don't require permanent destruction of habitat. This does need PR as well. But no, let's get rid of green belt, make people commute to jobs several hours a day with all costs/pollution involved, etc

Edit to add: there still would be existing private housing stock at a higher price range, but at least young families and lower price end customers would have their issues sorted. But no, we're special, what works for every other country doesn't work for us here

I take the points you’ve made on housing and planning and I agree, we can certainly learn from other countries.

Your Saviour comment is unnecessary.

In terms of competency, I’ll make two points: if she (or any other minister) is incompetent, then that’s part of a wider systemic issue on elected officials within government; if people would prefer an experienced director of planning in her role, then we need to explore why more of those types of well-paid, experienced industry professionals often don’t move into politics (and become the target for online trolls, death threats, personal lives/backgrounds exposed and ridiculed in the media, etc).

@Sherbs12

There absolutely is a wider issue of people coming into politics / civil services and those taking governmental roles. Araminta was talking about this on other threads.

Re well-paid, experienced industry professionals coming into politics - as I said on this thread earlier, we had one - very experienced City high flier. Not perfect by far, but at least with a good grasp of economics and finances. People could not relate to him at all, too rich to stomach.

And given we're on the subject of competence let me quote another poster

@Catsandcheese
You also need to give the incoming government a bit of time - so far they have increased the minimum wage, looked elsewhere from the ordinary tax payer to find money for necessary spending.

Skynews for you personally:

Money blog: 'My company cut my pay by £700 to cover NI rise - surely this isn't allowed?' | Money News | Sky News
I'd imagine the question is asked by some ordinary tax payer? read the conclusion by a lawyer there about redundancy.

Our esteemed Chancellor of the Exchequer, who studied PPE at the University of Oxford before obtaining a Master's degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and then seemingly working for Bank of England, how is this possible she did not anticipate this? Where was she during lectures on behavioral impact of taxes?

Whenever someone is attempting to criticise her here on MN we always hear "oh but Liz the Lettuce". Yes, Liz Truss crushed markets and this led to rise of mortgage rates, but wages were growing even faster and job market was white hot, candidates were getting offers from first application, we had to put on hold some projects as we couldn't find people. And at least she resigned.

This one is killing employment and forcing business to stop investing, she's way much worse. Still competence question from my perspective

The difference is that “30p Lee” refers to a statement which came from his own mouth and was derided for the ridiculously out of touch notion that it was.
In contrast “Rachel from Accounts” and similar is a deliberate attempt to belittle the people who are holding these important posts, and, what do you know, they are women.

What is Angela Rayner's social housing strategy?

To buy two of them and make a profit

That's not true.
Are you old enough to remember spitting image? There are examples throughout the thread of others getting the same treatment, male and female. Bojo the clown, Jeremy C"nt, Liz the lettuce, Bad Enoch, The Orange One, Two Tier Keir, Two Jags etc etc.

A return to interest and investment in building homes for social rent.
Going net positive on social homes.
£450m flow to local authorities for the most vulnerable.
Giving councils 100% of the receipts from Right to Buy sales so they can replace houses sold.
Decision not to extend Right to Buy to housing association homes.
Introduction of Awaab’s Law protecting residents from hazardous mould, damp, etc.
Commitment to implementing the Decent Homes Standard.

I’ve probably missed something, and it’s still early days with consultations, etc and all of the affordable housing policy that’s happening.

Look, I’m not some Angela Rayner superfan, but I have heard on several interviews discussing more and better quality social housing, challenging the stigma associated with it, etc. and that’s been refreshing.

Thank you - that's a lot of talk but no real commitment on numbers even 8 months in, which is hugely concerning.

Introduction of Awaab’s Law protecting residents from hazardous mould, damp, etc.

This one will be interesting as social housing is the worst. Time to get their own house in order just as private landlords have to

Labour's policies will decrease supply of private rental, already going this maybe

Those at the lower end of renting are most at risk

They will struggle to find an alternative, councils have very low ability

A thread on here where someone was worried about a £300 increase and very vulnerable to not finding anywhere else - that's who will be at risk

Yes, I don’t think there are any specific numbers on social housing, yet, but I could be wrong or they’ve just not been publicised. I read lots of consultation happening, council specific targets coming, commitment to net positive taking into account new policy, etc., which obviously leads to frustrations and concerns on delays on specifics, numbers, etc.

It will certainly be interesting to measure what’s happened in social housing at the end of the government’s five year term.