Rupert_Baehr   10 #13 Posted June 21, 2013 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.  A national strategy would obviously weight support for certain regions over others.  I'm not missing the point. - I agree entirely with the things you said; the goals are laudable - but how many projects can you cite which adopted those (or similar) goals and were funded to completion?  I'm a cynic and my cynicism is based on 40-odd years of observation in the UK.  An example (in rhis case the people didn't have housing, so they weren't being moved out.) :  A few years ago the country received an influx of Kosovan refugees. The government moved them to Grey Charmouth (you can't get much further 'out of sight and out of mind' than that ) and accommodated them in (somewhat run-down) under-utilised 'holiday hotels'.  Then it left them. No jobs, no support, not a lot of anything, really. - (But at least they were out of danger.)  Perhaps the government could get money from the EU for Infrastructure Support and Enterprise Development?  If they did the things you suggest, then you could build some thriving communities. - Provided, of course , you could attract sufficient well-qualified and competent people to those areas to run the enterprises.  I suggested in a post some months ago (when people were talking about reducing/capping rent support and the effect this would have on unemployed in areas where rents were high) that councils might consider (I wasn't suggesting that they should) buying land and building housing outside their boundaries to move their unemployed people to.  Who knows? How long will it be, do you think, before an enterprising council in a high-priced area buys up a number of houses in, say, Tyneside, moves a number of their unemployed into those houses and then hands over the housing stock (complete with sitting tenants) to the local council?  After all, we've heard often enough on this forum that 'you need lots of new people in an area to make it successful and wealthy'. The council receiving the housing (at no charge, of course;)) would receive new housing stock complete with 'numbers' and since it's numbers of people [or so I've read on this forum] which are required to trigger prosperity, the area should become prosperous. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
geared   268 #14 Posted June 21, 2013 Labour solves housing crisis?  Didn't Labour oversee the massive rise in housing costs during the decade they were in power? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
WeX   10 #15 Posted June 21, 2013 Labour solves housing crisis? Didn't Labour oversee the massive rise in housing costs during the decade they were in power?  No, they brought about an end to boom and bust remember, oh and saved the world, if you believe the one eyed idiot. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Mecky   10 #16 Posted June 21, 2013 Labour solves housing crisis? Didn't Labour oversee the massive rise in housing costs during the decade they were in power?  No, it's possible they were in government at the time though. Mind you, the conservatives saw the explosion of house prices during the mid-late 1980s, gazzumping and all that, all brought about by cheap dirty credit through deregulation of the banks, the fruit of which we are seeing in today's economy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
MrSmith   10 #17 Posted June 21, 2013 But why would folks want to set up businesses in crap holes like Goldthorpe?  They wouldn't, hence the government might want to look into incentivising them through substantial tax brakes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
geared   268 #18 Posted June 21, 2013 The money would be better spent bulldozing the place and starting a fresh  No, it's possible they were in government at the time though.  It's possible they were in government at the time???  Do you remember who ran this country for 13 years between 1997 and 2010?? It wasn't the crab-people  House prices did go up 'ever so slightly' over that period you know, you can't just blame everything on the 80's and Margaret Thatcher anymore.  If you can think of a really good reason why Labour didn't solve this problem in the 13 years they had the opportunity to I'd like to hear it. Because now they aren't in power they suddenly want to tackle it, and I'm ever so slightly suspicious to be honest. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Mecky   10 #19 Posted June 21, 2013 The money would be better spent bulldozing the place and starting a fresh    It's possible they were in government at the time???  Do you remember who ran this country for 13 years between 1997 and 2010?? It wasn't the crab-people  House prices did go up 'ever so slightly' over that period you know, you can't just blame everything on the 80's and Margaret Thatcher anymore. If you can think of a really good reason why Labour didn't solve this problem in the 13 years they had the opportunity to I'd like to hear it. Because now they aren't in power they suddenly want to tackle it, and I'm ever so slightly suspicious to be honest.  Oh but people can ... and even as slow-witted as most people are, they have begun to realise that. Even the media have begun to realise it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
geared   268 #20 Posted June 21, 2013 I must be slower than most then  I always figured if the Tories made such massive mistakes in the 80's, then Labour would have saved us all, reversed all the policies and fixed everything over their glorious 13 year reign.  Maybe they just didn't get round to it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
rossyrooney   12 #21 Posted June 21, 2013 No, they brought about an end to boom and bust remember, oh and saved the world, if you believe the one eyed idiot.  Is there really any need for that? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
I1L2T3   10 #22 Posted June 21, 2013 I'm sorry, but one cap doesn't fit all  I'm not for one minute saying it does so no apologies needed.  A national strategy means what it says. A strategy for the good of the nation. The best thing for our nation would be for all parts of it to prosper. That means more regions get more help, some less. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
WeX   10 #23 Posted June 21, 2013 (edited) Is there really any need for that?  after he sold off the countries gold reserves at rock bottom prices losing the country £9billion, idiot is rather tame for what he really is.  its odd how a number of american banks managed to stave off liquidation due to the money they made buying our gold and selling it at a profit a little while later. Did Brown do this for us, or for money men in the USA? Edited June 21, 2013 by WeX Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Rupert_Baehr   10 #24 Posted June 21, 2013 its odd how a number of american banks managed to stave off liquidation due to the money they made buying our gold and selling it at a profit a little while later. Did Brown do this for us, or for money men in the USA?  Where does Brown get his money from nowadays? Is he a hard-working MP who spends his time supporting his party? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...