Yahoo Finance Comment: 'Housing policy is for life, not just a general election'
The surprise summer genny lex campaigns are off to the expected gaffe-prone start. London’s property market has reacted with a general shrug and a prevailing feeling that it’s best to get it over with now.
I’ve surprised myself by being sad to see Michael Gove go.
As Secretary of State for Housing he tried his best with bold plans to outlaw unfair practices such as the leasehold system and no-fault eviction. That he has chosen to stand down entirely rather than keep up the fight is suggestive of what a miserable task it is.
Genuinely bright ideas for sorting out the twin housing and rental crisis would be a vote winner, but it’s become a monster to even more monstrous proportionssince the last general election. The target of 300,000 homes a year set for England in 2019 has been, in a word, missed.
Rent in London has shot up more than 45 per cent since the start of 2020, according to my back-of-the-vape-packet maths.
House prices here have rounded out at a more modest eight per cent rise, but the economy tanking in the interim means getting/paying a mortgage is a herculean task.
How would I attempt to solve these problems?
My manifesto would take up too many column-inches to publish here, but my first move would be to make housing non-partisan.
Providing citizens with safe and comfortable shelter should be a constant and considered effort – not a political football to be pumped up and kicked around each time an election gets called, only to be a deflated and neglected toy once the campaign posters come down, not a political football.
We’ve had eight housing ministers since the last general election, with six of them passing through the revolving door in a 12-month period. That would be bonkers even if we didn’t have such a shortfall in homes.
The manifestos will be a start, but we will need more than breakable promises to get across the finish line.
