- Authors of a new report say too many policy makers and short term policy objectives are causing the housing crisis
- Consequences of no coherent government housing strategy could be contributing to less funding for new homes and more landlords leaving the buy to let sector
- The report highlights that as new build housing targets are only advisory for local authorities, that the national target of 300,000 new homes will always fall short
- A focus on new homes and a failure to implement measures to optimise the use of the existing housing stock is also contributing to the issue
A call for a new integrated government housing strategy to address the housing crisis is the centre of a new report from the University of Sheffield, London School of Economics and commissioned by the Family Building Society.
Co-authored by Professor Tony Crook, Emeritus Professor of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Sheffield, the report highlights that the housing crisis has been brought about by a failure of Governments to create a coherent strategy for the sector and sets out key areas that need to be urgently fixed.
Along with forewords by Lord Heseltine and Lord Mandelson, the report calls on politicians, key national and local government departments, as well as the Bank of England, to cooperate on solving the UK’s current housing crisis.
Professor Crook said: “It is important to get some consistency between national policy on housing and regional and local policy on planning and land supply. Something that has not been easy but must be done better.”
The experts, Professor Crook and co-author Professor Christine Whitehead of the London School of Economics, say this is the simple way to produce a realistic, coherent and consistent policy,
“While we do need to build more homes of the right kind in the right places, the key is to optimise the use of the existing housing stock to help the elderly to downsize, growing families, and first-time buyers,” they say.
A Road Map to a Coherent Housing Policy notes that there has been a seemingly unending stream of reports, over decades, saying that the housing system is broken. These usually stress a particular problem, often targets for new build housing, advocates for a solution which would actually change very little. Without an integrated strategy covering housing as a whole, which includes providing housing of a safe and acceptable standard, individual policy solutions are likely to bring very limited success.
The report focuses on two key areas, the lack of importance placed on using existing housing stock more efficiently and introducing incentives to ‘rightsize’ their homes to lubricate the housing market.
While new build housing of all types is extremely important, at best it only accounts annually for around one per cent of the stock. What can bring larger and more immediate benefits, the experts say, is to use the 99 per cent of housing already in existence more efficiently.
If older households, who own more and bigger homes, had more of an incentive to ‘rightsize’ to free up homes for families and also reduce costs of care, this would help use existing stock more efficiently. The report recommends waiving Stamp Duty for the over 65s to provide such an incentive, helping the labour market and generating economic activity related to moving house - increasing tax revenue for the government.
Other recommendations in the report include:
- A government commitment to align key players for a medium-term strategy (including the Bank of England, the Treasury and Department for Work and Pensions, as well as the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and local authorities).
- Reducing the time that it takes to get individual planning permissions through the system – which is a massive constraint to increasing house building as the downturn recedes.
- Stabilising the situation in the privately rented sector where tensions are concentrated because of the lack of options to buy or to rent social housing
- Most important is to find the finance to allow local authorities to do their job, which it accepts is the most difficult politically. The best approach is to re-value council tax bands, so that they are in line with housing values and the better off pay more.
- Producing a medium-term framework with an implementation plan which is adaptable to foreseeable changing circumstances and reviewed regularly.
- Any policy must be about the quality, use and price of the whole housing stock and the circumstances of all households.
- Use regional/subregional structures to negotiate where to build and how to raise funds for infrastructure.
Professors Crook and Whitehead added: “Without a more consistent and coherent approach housing conditions can only get worse. What we need is a strong government working across all government departments as well as private and public sector housing organisations with all following the same road map. Unless they do this, opportunities that can help frame and realise a positive future will not be grasped.”
Mark Bogard, Family Building Society Chief Executive, said: “Solving the housing crisis is not that hard if the government works with other stakeholders and pursues coherent policies introduced over a sensible timescale. And some things that would make a big difference could be done immediately.
“The government’s latest long-term plan for housing does not address the issues highlighted in our report. Specifically, there is no mention of making the existing stock more efficient, creating more social rented housing, proper support for home ownership, creating a more effective and affordable rented sector or setting achievable targets and updating local plans to reach those targets.
“There has to be greater coherence, consistency and resilience in housing policy, which is why we need a Minister of Housing as one of the great offices of state – not a repeat of the shambles of the last 25 years”.
The full report will be available to download from 10am on Monday 8 January from the Family Building Society website. www.familybuildingsociety.co.uk
