UK Housing White Paper 2017
On the 7th of February 2017, the Government released a White Paper detailing plans on how to fix the housing crisis. The 104-page document was entitled “Fixing our Broken Housing Market.” (1)
The White Paper accepted the fact that the housing market “is broken,” and you didn’t need to be an expert to realise that. “You just have to be one of the millions of hardworking people who can’t afford to buy or even rent the kind of safe, secure, affordable home that previous generations have taken for granted.” (1)
The paper “confirmed the government will press ahead with a controversial ban on letting agency fees for tenants - but there is still no firm date for when this will happen.” (2)
Some of the main points addressed included (1):
- Ensuring the green belt is protected
- Efficiently utilise land by encouraging higher densities
- Providing support for older people who wish to downsize to smaller properties
- Helping small builders provide more homes by providing a £3bn fund
- Encouraging the opportunity for family-friendly tenancies, which are 2-3 years long
- Supporting the growth of custom built homes, where individuals can design their own homes
- Forcing developers to start building 2 years after planning permission, as opposed to the current 3-year deadline
Analysis
There has already been a substantial amount of commentary, both for and against the proposals. After Sajid Javid gave his statement to the commons, Labour’s shadow housing secretary, John Healey MP, said it was a “white flag not a White Paper”, “feeble beyond belief,” and asked, “Is that it?” (2)
However, Jeremy Blackburn, Head of UK Policy at RICS, praised the plan in saying, “For the first time this century, [the] Government has shifted the rhetoric away from home ownership. Past governments have been too slow to realise that if we are to create productive cities powered by a readily available workforce, we need to house all members of society, not just the fortunate few.” (4)
The generation gap within the housing market has been a hot topic for some time now. I wrote an article entitled “To Buy or Not to Buy: Ask Generation Y”, and more recently a discussion around young professionals renting vs. buying. But on the other end of the property market, as detailed by a trending article in the Telegraph, is a crisis that “leaves thousands of older people imprisoned in unsuitably large properties.” (5)
Jeremy Blackburn commented on this by saying, “encouraging Britain’s ageing population to downsize could be the key to unlocking 2.6 million homes. Almost a third of over 55s have considered downsizing in the last five years; yet we know that only seven percent actually did.” He continued, “Clearly, it’s an emotive issue and one that needs to be treated with sensitivity, but we would like to see central and local government provide older people with the information, practical and financial support they need to downsize if that is their choice.” (4)
Potential issues of the proposals (3):
- Some critics argue that the proposal outlines what the Government intends to achieve, though little on how they propose to achieve it
- Encouraging councils to create high-density homes may speed up planning permissions, however, under the new proposals, developers will have to ensure they’re being transparent about the rate at which they’re building.
- Lucian Cook, residential researcher at Savills, said that the outlined proposal to punish those who are not meeting house-building targets would be a “significant burden” on local planning authorities.
Regardless, accepting the fact that the housing market is “broken” might be a step in the right direction. To quote Sajid Javid MP, “The housing market has taken decades to reach the state it’s now in. Turning it around won’t be quick or easy. But it can be done. It must be done. And, as this White Paper shows, this Government is determined to do it.” (1)
Written by Jenna Kamal
Sources
- https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/590043/Fixing_our_broken_housing_market_-_housing_white_paper.pdf
- https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/feb/07/housing-market-government-white-paper-sajid-javid
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/house-prices/government-launches-revolutionary-white-paper-fix-housing-crisis/
- http://www.rics.org/uk/news/news-insight/comment/housing-white-paper/
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/pensions-retirement/financial-planning/820000-house-big-nowhere-move/
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