On the face of it, it has been a rather uneventful week for the housing industry in a frankly a cataclysmic 12 months. Housebuilders and developers have developed what can only be described in the pop psychology world as learned helplessness when it comes to large announcements relating to the industry.
There were however two policy papers on housing released in quick succession that in more normal times would be reserved for the policy heads and housing nerds. In the context of a looming General Election they can be cast in a different light. One from the Fabian Society (centre-left think tank) and the other from Bright Blue (centre-right think tank). Both setting out their stalls on how the issue of housing should be addressed in a future government.
Without necessarily knowing the author of each, you would be forgiven for thinking the report that mentioned ‘home ownership’ almost 2x more than the other and ‘housing delivery’ almost 4.5x more, would be the ‘party of home ownership’ no less. But in what is a rather surprising paradigm shift it was the centre-left think tank championing these principles.
In a series of essays, the Fabian report provided a robust mission statement aimed at delivering 500,000 new homes a year. As ambitious as the target may be, the report set out a series of policy proposals to turbocharge housing delivery in this country, including green belt reform, wider planning reform, and more council house delivery.
In contrast, the Bright Blue report focused on providing communities with the ‘strong foundations needed for a prosperous future’. As important as this is, any initiative is futile if you do not provide the necessary tools to help deliver new homes. Whatever your opinion is on mandatory housing targets, I think we can all agree that in the absence of such an approach, it is vital we find alternative solutions to shoulder the housing burden of this country. ‘Street votes’ alone will not cut it.
Whatever stat you use, whether it’s the ONS announcement that a third of 20-34 year-olds are living at home with their parents or the news the UK has the lowest ratio of dwellings to residents (3 homes to every 10 people) in Europe, it is hard to ignore the fact that the lack of housing supply remains the fundamental challenge facing the industry and perhaps the country over the next decade. If I was looking to win an election, I certainly know what I would be focusing on.
