Agenda 2019

http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/14726409.WELCOME_BOOST__Plans_to_build_600_new_homes_revealed/ WELCOME BOOST: Plans to build 600 new homes revealed Magna housing board and directors 600 houses in 5 years. A pathetic gesture which does little to address the acute hosing shortage particularly in the rented sector, in Dorset. Politicians must have the political will to address this scandalous housing crisis, not only in Dorset but in constituencies around the whole country. The solution is for the country to commit to building 800,000 new home over the course of a full parliament where at least 70% of the new homes would be for social housing. For far too l ong, the housing shortage has been used as a means of maintaining high price levels in the housing market and for the price of land, thus condemning many families to the prospect of never being able to afford to purchase or even rent a home of their own.  800,00 homes per year required The recent applicatio...

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....

 “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 th...

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.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.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/15/lib-dems-only-alternative-coalition-snp-or-ukip-nick-clegg#comment-50468320 Lib Dems are only alternative to 'coalition of grievance', says Nick Clegg  Party leader says Liberal Democrats would offer conscience and stability in coalition after 7 May     . He has said his party is the only stable choice at the election.     The comments of a man desparate to retain the position and priviledges he has enjoyed over the last five years. The ministerial car, the inflated salary, the title of "Deputy" Prime minister, the expenses, the seat at the cabinet table and the perceived kudos would all be lost unless Clegg can weasle his way into another coalition with whoever would be prepared to take him. He is one of those people who would be prepared to prostitute themselves and every principle they may once have held in exchange for their perception of power. The problem of course is that Clegg was...