Labour solves housing crisis

[monkey104 10]

I just thought I would post this before chem.

I won't pretend to know the solution and I will not denigrate ayones point of view.

I promise not to turn it in to an allotment thread, homeless thread, or slagging off police because like some of us they are finding things a bit tight.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22990554

[Mecky 10]

There is no housing crisis, there are approximately 700K vacant properties in the UK. What they mean is that there is a shortage of affordable housing

[*Belle* 10]

There is no housing crisis, there are approximately 700K vacant properties in the UK. What they mean is that there is a shortage of affordable housing

 

Ergo 'crisis' - Its no good telling hungry people that you have shelves full of Beluga if all they can afford is fish fingers.

 

Its also pointless Labour threatening developers to 'use it or lose it'. Developers are in the business of making money, if the money was on the table, they would be eerrrmmm, developing! It wouldn't be in their best interests not to, before the planning permission lapsed.

Edited June 21, 2013 by *Belle*

[MrSmith 10]

There is no housing crisis, there are approximately 700K vacant properties in the UK. What they mean is that there is a shortage of affordable housing

 

In areas that people need to or want to live, many of the empty properties are in areas of high unemployment, the only way to bring them into use is increase employment in those areas or move long term unemployed from other areas into them.

[I1L2T3 10]

In areas that people need to or want to live, many of the empty properties are in areas of high unemployment, the only way to bring them into use is increase employment in those areas or move long term unemployed from other areas into them.

 

Spot on.

 

This is why we need a national housing strategy. We don't have one. Just a rigged and government sponsored market driven by the idea that housing is a financial commodity.

[Rupert_Baehr 10]

In areas that people need to or want to live, many of the empty properties are in areas of high unemployment, the only way to bring them into use is increase employment in those areas or move long term unemployed from other areas into them.

 

Do you mean as in: 'Move unemployed people out of extremely expensive areas (much of London) into cheaper readily available housing 'Oop North'?

 

It would make economic sense, but imagine the outcry:

 

"You're breaking up our community"

 

"You're moving us away from what we know as home"

 

"It's effnic cleansing, innit!"

 

There is precedent. I know at least 2 housing estates in East Anglia which were built for exactly that reason. Communities from Eastern London were moved en bloc which freed up a significant amount of sought-after (by people who had jobs in London) housing.

[eastbank 10]

Do you mean as in: 'Move unemployed people out of extremely expensive areas (much of London) into cheaper readily available housing 'Oop North'?

 

It would make economic sense, but imagine the outcry:

 

"You're breaking up our community"

 

"You're moving us away from what we know as home"

 

"It's effnic cleansing, innit!"

 

There is precedent. I know at least 2 housing estates in East Anglia which were built for exactly that reason. Communities from Eastern London were moved en bloc which freed up a significant amount of sought-after (by people who had jobs in London) housing.

 

been moving people out of london for months...to places like birmingham, liverpool and manchester because it is cheaper...

[Mecky 10]

Spot on.

 

This is why we need a national housing strategy. We don't have one. Just a rigged and government sponsored market driven by the idea that housing is a financial commodity.

 

You can't have a national strategy because I might not want what you or the next person wants

[I1L2T3 10]

Do you mean as in: 'Move unemployed people out of extremely expensive areas (much of London) into cheaper readily available housing 'Oop North'?

 

It would make economic sense, but imagine the outcry:

 

"You're breaking up our community"

 

"You're moving us away from what we know as home"

 

"It's effnic cleansing, innit!"

 

There is precedent. I know at least 2 housing estates in East Anglia which were built for exactly that reason. Communities from Eastern London were moved en bloc which freed up a significant amount of sought-after (by people who had jobs in London) housing.

 

Think you're missing the point. It's wrong to just move people to places with limited economic opportunity just because the housing is cheaper. What MrSmith I think is saying but he can correct me if I'm wrong, is that in areas with excess housing some form of strategic economic support may be a good idea. There are lots of possible ways of doing this:

 

Infrastructure investment

Variable minimum wage rates

Variable housing benefit rules

Enterprise support

 

National and local government try things now and again but it's never truly strategic, usually half-baked and wasteful. It seems that the default fallback option is to just let people, sometimes significant sections of communities, fester on benefits. It's the price that government pays to retain social order, and the price it pays for its failure.

 

---------- Post added 21-06-2013 at 08:50 ----------

 

You can't have a national strategy because I might not want what you or the next person wants

 

Of course you can, stop being silly.

 

A national strategy would obviously weight support for certain regions over others.

[Mecky 10]

Of course you can, stop being silly.

 

A national strategy would obviously weight support for certain regions over others.

 

I'm sorry, but one cap doesn't fit all

[Riannon 10]

In areas that people need to or want to live, many of the empty properties are in areas of high unemployment, the only way to bring them into use is increase employment in those areas or move long term unemployed from other areas into them.

 

But why would folks want to set up businesses in crap holes like Goldthorpe?

[WeX 10]

I just thought I would post this before chem.

I won't pretend to know the solution and I will not denigrate ayones point of view.

I promise not to turn it in to an allotment thread, homeless thread, or slagging off police because like some of us they are finding things a bit tight.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22990554

 

From what I heard Labour want to give more powers to local authorities. Isn't it local authorities that have been blocking development?

 

Personally I don't know what the solution is, but the relative sturdiness of the housing market is not a bad thing.