Skip to main content

What price housing?

 “The last five years have seen a low level of house building, less than half the new buildings that are actually needed",

 

 


 

Median gross weekly pay for full-time employees, 2014 in West Dorset is £506 (Residency based figures) or £26,312 pa. In Weymouth and Portland the figure is £469 or £24,388 pa.
These figures are taken from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2014, Office for National Statistics The reason for reproducing these statistics, is an article in today’s (15th October 2015) “Independent” under the headline “David Cameron defends 'starter homes' that only the richest can afford”. Now, admittedly he was talking about London where the average house price is £522,000 and adding that his previously quoted figure of “starter homes” at £450,000 was an “upper limit” and he would prefer to see a “starter home” at a significantly lower price. No doubt thousands of people in London would agree with that bit. However, the fact remains that anyone attempting to obtain one of these starter homes would still have to have a salary of around £77,000 pa. There are many people who earn nowhere near that figure.

However, Cameron and his out of touch colleagues will have to come to terms with the unpalatable fact the United Kingdom exists well beyond the area laying within the confines of the M25. The housing crisis is not a problem restricted to London or the Home Counties or even to England. It is a nationwide scandal and has been brought about by decades of neglect by successive governments and has resulted in tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of people being unable to own a home or even afford to rent in the private or social housing sectors. The accepted definition of a “starter home”, is a normal home with a 20% discount applied to the price, which theoretically, stimulates demand, increases the building of more houses and makes houses even cheaper. Of course, it does nothing of the sort.
The housing crisis is a national problem which has solutions (if we have the political will to implement such solutions) but solutions which may be different in different areas. Take West Dorset for example. A predominately rural area with much farmland, little industry, a great many villages and hamlets, a number of Seaside resorts along its world famous Jurassic Coast, many “second homes” and a housing shortage for ownership or rent. In West Dorset, the average cost of a home (flat, semi detached or detached) is, £283,402 (Land Registry statistics for 2014). Even with the application of Cameron’s 20% discount figure, the price for a “starter home” would be £226,721. Close to 11 times the annual salary levels in West Dorset and nearer to 12 times in Weymouth and Portland. In the rented housing sector, the situation is, if anything, even worse with high rent levels in the private sector and barely affordable rents in the social housing markets, particularly where cuts to housing and other benefits are having a significant effect on household budgets. 
 
The crisis in housing is a difficult situation now and one which will become even more challenging over the years to come. To go some way address this, the Dorchester and District Labour Party, will be hosting a Public meeting on the 25 November 2015 7:00pm - in the Corn Exchange, Dorchester to discuss this and associated housing issues. There will be speakers from various interested organisations, with a “Question and answer” session and also an opportunity for you to “have your say” on this important issue.



Housing is a matter which affects us all and is too important to be left to others.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Northern Ireland and Brexit. The return of "The Troubles"

Northern Ireland: police attacked in another night of disturbances | Northern Ireland | The Guardian When the "Brexit" debate was still filling our newspapers and our television screens, readers may remember why I had changed my mind since voting to leave at the referendum vote. Apart from the economic arguments, which had become crystal clear after peeling away all the lies and misrepresentations trotted out by Bozo Boris and his "Get Brexit Done" conspirators, there was always the problem of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Would it be possible to have a border between the European Union and the United Kingdom where people, goods and services could pass freely between the two nations without customs restrictions, tariffs, duties and all the other formalities? Would it be possible to have one part of the United Kingdom treated differently from other parts of the United Kingdom, particularly when Scotland for example had voted overwhe

The Parliamentary Labour Party conspirators are hatching another coup.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/corbyn-labour-leadership-rebel-mps-a7202641.html Labour MPs plan for Corbyn victory  and plot how to confront an emboldened leader Even for the "Independent", the number and use of unnamed anonymous "sources" in this article is quite astonishing. However, amongst all the usual speculative delusion, there is one factor which causes concern to anyone who believes in the Labour Party, its principles and in he democratic process of the Labour movement. It is abundantly clear that elements within the Parliamentary Labour Party, are even now, planning another coup in the event that Jeremy Corbyn should emerge as winner in the current ballot. The failed coup of earlier this year, has now descended into a sham leadership election, because the conspirators still fail to accept the democratic decision of the Labour party membership and cling to

New Agenda on Sunday is out Sunday, Apr. 28, 2019

https://paper.li/f-1346065353#/ Good morning everyone. Last weeks scare regarding Megan and Harry being sent to live "somewhere in Africa" seems to have been dispelled, at least for the time being. It now seems that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will take up residence in California.  Unless  they are actually  doing  some proper work in "The Golden State", I hope that they are taken off the civil list so that we do not have to fund their life choice. The nauseating Daily Mail is at it again. A headline this week, which I will not even bother to reproduce here, screams out in disgusting and repulsive bias without any acknowledgement to the factual basis of their "story". Spewing out their usual smears and embellished distortions about Hamas, the IRA, Hezbollah and the rest, the Mail condemns itself with ample justification, for the closure of a "newspaper," which again abuses 10 fold, the privilege of "freedom of t