http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/30/uk-throes-of--housing-crisis Revealed: UK ‘is in the throes of a housing crisis’ Revealed: UK ‘is in the throes of a housing crisis’. Revealed!? Many of us have been shouting from the rooftops for years that this country has a housing crisis. That crisis has become even worse over the past 20 years and now rates as an national outrage which should not be tolerated by any decent society in this 21st Century. It is a crisis brought about by decades of neglect and indifference by successive governments who have viewed "housing" as a manifesto topic where they can make all sorts of promises and when elected, find all sorts of "reasons" why they are only able to build a fraction of the number of houses and flats actually required. Over the past 6 months, house building organisations, economists and housing charities, have identified contributory factors to the growing crisis. The "right to buy" ...
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/housing-double-whammy-a-whole-generation-wont-be-able-to-buy-or-rent-a-home-8994229.html A whole generation ‘won’t be able to buy or rent a home’ a growing number of people cannot afford to buy or rent This crisis was predicted as long ago as the late 1970's. Successive governments have done nothing since then and they will do nothing now. Until such times as the people of this country realise how they are being duped with such meaningless phrases as "right to buy", "affordable housing", "help to purchase" and all the other rhetoric pouring out of governments and successive housing ministers, nothing will happen to redress the problem. Today, houses and flats stand empty and boarded in the expectation that that the owners (in many cases local authorities) may profit from the sale of the land at some indeterminate time in the future.. Large amounts of land owned by local authorities...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/10/08/help-to-buy_n_4062479.html George Osborne's Help To Buy Scheme Could Threaten UK Financial Stability George Osborne The “help to buy scheme”, get a “foot on the ladder”, “only” 5% deposit needed, building “low cost” homes to meet the housing crisis, etc etc the array of cliché ridden headlines and news programme interviews are almost endless. All the rhetoric and spin aimed at one objective. That is, to convince a sceptical public that this government, the same as previous governments, is tackling the housing crisis in this country by encouraging demand for homes and thereby stimulating the building industry. The reality is of course, rather different. There is no doubt that there is a housing crisis of significant proportions in the UK today. Various measures have been proposed over recent months, all of which seek to address some element of the problem. Iain Duncan-Smith, the Work and Pensions secret...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/28/government-bold-act-housing-crisis-hutton?guni=Keyword:news-grid%20main-3%20%28comment%29%20Pickable%20with%20editable%20override:Pickable%20with%20editable%20override:Position1:anchor%20image Political cowardice stops us from solving our wretched housing crisis New homes are good for the economy, but the government has given no significant stimulus to social housing. For as long as the building of social housing remains as some sort of anathema to the political mainstream, and is derided as being only for scroungers and benefit cheats by elements of the press and some sections of society, then the housing crisis will deepen and become another cause of social unrest. There is no political will, nor it seems, is there any political advantage to be gained by addressing the housing problem. Our politicians are satisfied with wringing their hands and saying how awful the problem is and th...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/jul/23/george-osborne-help-to-buy-economists?commentpage=1 Help to Buy scheme attacked by economists This (and previous) governments obsession with "getting people onto the housing ladder" is not the solution to the housing crisis in the country today. As long as the building of social housing remains as some sort of anathema to the political mainstream, and is derided as being only for scroungers and benefit cheats by elements of the press and some sections of society, then the housing crisis will deepen and become another cause of social unrest.