http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/14916954.Workers_struggling_as_rents_now_more_than_a_third_of_the_average_pay_in_Weymouth_and_west_Dorset/ Workers in Dorset face struggle with rents rising to more than a third of the average pay The scandal of high rent charges is not just restricted to Dorset, but is a problem for most regions of the country. It is a problem brought about by successive governments since the 1950's taking a policy option of curtailing house building, particular in the social housing sector. It is also an economic reality, that by restricting the supply of affordable housing, including those for rent in either the private or social housing sectors, the price level for housing general ly is forced upward and held at artificially high levels as demand for homes increases. This has been particularly the case over the last twenty years and has become even more chronic over the last few years as house building generally has fallen to record low levels. ...
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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" ...
Over 40% of former council homes now owned by private landlords as housing crisis deepens in the home ownership and rented accommodation sectors. Former council homes sold under Right-to-Buy are being on the private rental market There is a housing crisis in the United Kingdom. The "Right to buy scheme" is just one of the contributing factors. In the early 1980's many of us were predicting the very crisis which we are now experiencing. It is to the eternal shame of successive governments since 1979 right up until today, that hundreds of thousands of people today are unable to afford a home of their own, either owned or rented, due to the high price level of homes for purchase or homes for rent, particularly in the private rental sector. These high prices levels are the consequence of an acute shortage of houses being built, which is the undeniable result of decades of government neglect or even government intention to restrict the house building programme....
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/oct/16/average-monthly-rent-hits-record-high-of-816-highlighting-housing-shortage Average monthly rent hits record high of £816 Social housing should be built to suit a range of incomes A report which underlines the simple economic reality that, where there is a shortage of a commodity, in this case rented accommodation specifically, but emphasised by a housing shortage generally, the price level of the available "stock" will increase. We have seen the level of rents increase significantly over recent years and with some regional variations, has increased in the past 12 months alone, by between 6.3% and 8.5% with a fall in Wales and the North of England. Higher rents combined with the growth in property values mean that landlords in England and Wales have seen returns of 9.4% over the past year. Landlords have plenty to be happy about, suggested Adrian Gill, director of Your Move and Reeds Rains....
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/07/pm-cameron-vows-scrap-rules-forcing-developers-build-affordable-homes-for-rent Cameron vows to scrap requirement to build affordable homes for rent Cameron will encourage developers to increase the building of homes for first-time buyers. Cameron either by accident or more probably design, conveniently ignores hundreds of thousands of people in this country who will never be able to afford to buy either low cost first time buyer homes or "affordable" homes. This country has a housing crisis created by successive governments, where people are unable to buy or cannot afford to rent. Tinkering at the margin with the vague prospect of owning a home at sometime in the future, is a not very well disguised bribe to attract votes, which has been the way of things for decades and has failed miserably. What this country desperately needs is a housing programme to build at least 800,000 new homes of which a minimum of 75% ...
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/28/labour-biggest-public-housebuilding-drive-since-1970s Labour considers biggest social house building drive since 70s Why hasn't this happened for 35 years? Successive governments over those years, (and even before then), have had an interest in maintaining a "housing shortage". A shortage in the homes for purchase sector, stimulates demand and thereby increases the price level. Government duplicity in promoting schemes and incentives like right to buy, first time buyer grants,buy to rent,"affordable houses" and the rest are nothing more than a gesture for public consumption and do nothing to address the real problem. In the rented sector, the situation is even more chronic. Local councils have by government directive and some by their own volition, abandoned their historic function of providing rented accommodation within their areas. Many council houses have been s...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/homelessness-soars-40-under-tories-6506576 Homelessness soars 40% under the Tories - and charities blame welfare cuts Criminal outrage. This country desperately requires the construction of 700,000 new homes of which 80% must be social housing. In the 21st Century it is indefensible that people are living in overcrowded conditions, are unable to find accommodation either for rent or purchase, or are homeless on the streets of our town and cities. Crisis: UK faces the biggest housing shortage since WWI It is a moral and social outrage and successive governments should be ashamed of their failures to address this affront civilised society.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/budget-2015-george-osborne-to-axe-subsidies-for-higher-income-earners-in-social-housing-10366555.html George Osborne to axe subsidies for higher income earners in social housing Rent benefits to be scrapped for those on more than £30,000 It is not really clear from this article whether the £40k in London and the £30k elsewhere, is a "household income" (dad,mum,working children living at home) or an individual, (presumably the person in who's name the tenancy stands), income. In either case, will the "savings" from this measure be sufficient to cover the costs of the bureaucracy needed to manage the new measures and to monitor the ongoing "means testing" necessary to implement it? Again a knee jerk and ill tho ught out proposal from this wretched government, designed to be popular with some parts of society rather than to resolve an extremely complex problem of which hou...
http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/11739329.Honesty_not_the_best_policy_as_Cornwall_Council_refuses_to_house_ex_soldier_and_family/?ref=mr Cornwall Council refuses to house ex-soldier and family Jamie and Charmaine Streets and their four children, Suvannah, Briea, Leo, and Tyler Since the mid 1980's Councils across England have been using the "intentionally homeless" reasoning to abdicate any responsibility for providing housing to families or even individuals, no matter what the circumstances of any particular case may be. Council housing officials often will say privately to councillors (I know because it has been said to me) that there is a chronic shortage of available housing due to government restrictions on building social housing. This is, and has been for the past 30 years, an outrageous and unacceptable situation where ordinary and usually deserving families, are penalised for the failure of successive government policies in respect o...
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/09/tories-risk-new-financial-crisis-housing-nick-clegg Lib Dem leader calls for Tories to put aside ideological objections and use 'muscle of the state' to build 300,000 homes a year The cynical Nick Clegg Many people, predominately from outside of the "main" political parties in Westminster, have been agitating for an increase in house building, mainly for the social housing sector for years. It hasbeen a taboo subject for Labour, Conservative and LibDem, with their obsession with the "foot on the housing ladder ", "affordable housing", "help to buy" and countless other schemes for the benifit of the few, at the expense of those people in society who, for one reason or another, will never be able to buy their own home. Schemes designed and implimented not because they were right, but because cynical and inept politicians perceived...
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/2013/10/25/immigrants-not-causing-housing-crisis_n_4161952.html?1382695221&utm_hp_ref=uk Elderly More To Blame For Housing Crisis Than Immigrants Planning Minister Nick Boles Nick Boles, Conservative MP, Planning minister and complete arsehole, claims that the elderly are responsible for the housing crisis. The "crisis" which many commentators and contributors to the comments sections of the Mail, the Telegraph and yes even the Huffington Post, argue does not exist and is in fact no more than a sinister left wing plot created to destabilise the government and create alarm amongst the people. Clearly, Boles is out of step with that analysis. We should perhaps take some comfort in the knowledge that the housing crisis has nothing to do with years of neglect by successive governments and their collective failure to address the problem of affordable housing. Moreover, since Thatcher decreed that building of ...
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...