To be sick of hearing about 'the housing crisis'?

[GoldfinchFeather]

This is related to the thread about Angela Rayner wanting to build 1.5 million new homes. Is anyone else sick to the back teeth of hearing about the supposed housing crisis in this country?

I live in a semi-rural area, and the amount of house building around here over the last few years has been crazy. Hundreds of houses appearing on pretty much any vacant piece of land, turning what was once a small village into something that feels closer to a town in size. Roads getting busier and busier, and and all the while nothing has been done to provide any new facilities like doctors or schools.

I understand people's frustration of not being able to buy a home. But surely just concreting over more and more of the countryside is completely unsustainable?

If the housing crisis is really so bad, why isn't the Government taking more of an innovative approach? How many town centres/high streets have empty shops that could be converted to residential use? Or properties that have stood empty for years and haven't been brought back to market? Surely just through that, there would be an enormous surplus of homes available, and less need to concrete over more and more of the countryside?

The only bit I agree with is that more facilities should be built to support new housing. Also definitely agree that the most housing needs to be social housing at affordable rents.

Build flats in offices instead. I know of one enormous new build office building that was hardly rented for 20 years. It lay practically empty. Only recently it had flats converted in to and is buzzing.

That,

the housing crisis comes from the necessity of easy access to jobs/schools/amenities and the high demand as of course no one really buy a house for a year or two…most of the time.

where location is prime, rent goes up and up making it impossible for people to put aside to buy, let alone getting out of any emergency housing.

where location isn’t prime, rent is still high but not a lot of jobs so it is a long commute to wherever you need to go and then hoping for equity to buy « closer to ».

Limits on buying won’t be anytime soon happening as it literally brings money to big companies such as JPMorgan…etc. People whom succeed to have a cut from this should be allowed, it doesn’t mean it is not a horrendous situation.

A limit on the rent might be better but again…not happening anytime soon as the houses are mortgaged as let to buy/buy to let and it is the bank making money.

So. Yeah. Here we are.

Obviously there IS a housing crisis but building expensive houses on green belt land is not the answer. There needs to be a serious reform of the rental laws so that people can afford to rent and not all be obsessed with property ownership, but that won’t happen because so many MPs and members of the House of Lords are property owners who benefit from the current system. As with many of our social problems, it’s down to a minority of obscenely wealthy people who are terrified of losing any part of their obscene wealth and care more about protecting it than about the welfare of an entire country.

@FeetLikeFlippers
that is right.

Why is it that people that move out of urban areas to cutesie little villages that immediately want to draw up the NIMBY drawbridge?

As with many of our social problems, it’s down to a minority of obscenely wealthy people who are terrified of losing any part of their obscene wealth and care more about protecting it than about the welfare of an entire country.

@FeetLikeFlippers so what should happen to their land? Should it be compulsorily purchased? And if so, how much land should be confiscated from them?
Should land only be compulsorily purchased from ‘obscenely wealthy people’, and if so, how rich do they have to be before their landed is removed from their ownership by government?

Our charity head office in London was mothballed COVID . Trustees decided it wasn't needed. Is now converted to flats.

Do you mean service charges? Mine is over £4k a year now, it was £800 a year when I moved in only seven years ago. People are quite rightly put off.

Friends granny is paying that now McCarthy stone. For what she asks. They've built three in the area now.

McCarthy stone. Here's a typical service charge breakdown

@ThinWomansBrain similar scenario to those of non British voting for Brexit or moaning about 'other immigrants' - not them of course

My own view is that it is as others have said very much an affordability crisis- hence why not enough rented of decent standard at genuinely affordable rates on average incomes - more people on the waiting lists because they can't afford to buy in anywhere but the cheapest areas and private jets proving very insecure/elusive to get in recent years

My suggestions as follows

1 bring back self declaration mortgages at 85% with the proviso of a clean credit record - a huge swathe private renting are self employed- due to how you account if self employed it ends up with you either over declaring in order to get mortgages by not using all your allowances - it's actually really difficult to get mortgages if self employed - even though the reality is an employee could lose their job tomorrow with a business going bust whereas if self employed you at j oh east know the state of your business-this would free up many decently earning self employed to buy.

Offer huge tax breaks to the big insurance/pension companies to build for long term rent - houses as well as flats, all at social housing levels plus 25% on top ringfenced for any works and services - rather than service charges - build proper communities/developments - and landscape them!!

100% cancel right to buy

Being back DIYSO -(shared ownership on the open market) up to a certain average value level for that area.

This is being done on mass in both the town I live in and the town I work in (50 miles apart).

Town centre apartments are going up under permitted development rules.

As PP has said, this does nothing for the strain on health services and schools etc.

In addition, the rents tend to be sky high due to the central location.

Yes sorry was multi tasking.

badly.

luckily you knew what I meant!!
it should be criminal to increase it that much. The uncertainty puts people off.

Posts like the OP's make me want to stick a prefab on every spot of greenery in the country.

If they really think the country is so overbuilt why don't they knock down their own house?

There is a housing crisis in that people cannot afford to buy them! The amount needed for a deposit and monthly mortgage is crippling.

It’s more the loan to wage value. So an average wage can’t buy an average home in many areas.

the house prices shot up when mortgages were available without considering income multiples. This then became the glass floor for prices on which the house prices are built now. They should have allowed a correction in 2008/2009 instead of bolstering the market. It would have been awful for some, now, it would be catastrophic for many.

Because they put a lot of time, effort, and money into moving into the countryside and want it to stay that way.

This is a great idea. It's so hard to recruit good carers, and it doesn't pay much, so could incentivise by offering reduced cost accomodation to carers and their families to live in same development as elderly people needing support. No commuting costs or time, lower priced housing for those often on minimum wage

I'm not sick of hearing about the housing crisis.

However, like the OP I would like a range of solutions. If you ended most short term holiday lets and even half of all second homes, you could create a lot of new year round homes by proxy. Some empty shops could be converted.

I would also have the house sale and purchase process in England and Wales the same as in Scotland, instead of the spivs and chancers charter we have now.

Exactly this. We spent a lot to move from a built up area into a medium sized village, to get better quality of air, more space.
Developers have built on the 2 car parks in the village, and there is more traffic and less places to park, leading to crazy dangerous parking around the village school, and at least 3 children have been hit by cars due to this. Luckily none seriously, but it's only a matter of time before there is a serious accident.

Mortgages are often less than rent for the same property, the issue is saving the deposits, stamp duty etc

Many of us who bought several decades ago had 2 salaries! Very few of our friends bought with 1 salary. Now loads expect to and wonder why there’s a problem. It’s not easy with 2 but there’s more chance.

Too many people innit