Tuesday, Jun 08, 2010
Latest from the New Housing Minister
Guardian: Homeownership – not renting – at heart of government housing strategy
Grant Shapps Housing Minister says cash for affordable housing (shared ownership etc.) has run out so it is down to the Private sector to find new innovative ways to suck naive youngsters into a life of debt servitude.
Posted by tenant super @ 04:46 PM (1570 views) Add Comment
12 Comments
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1. mark wadsworth said...
I'm really trying to look for the positives with the Lib-Cons. Perhaps they really will adopt a market-based solution, which is simply letting house prices crash?
2. tenant super said...
The 'local homes for local people' sounds a bit cringeworthy but if it were to mean housing cooperatives in places where locals are priced out (London, South East and holiday villages on the coast) then it can't be a bad thing.
If it turns out to be another attempt to use 'shared ownership' as a means of propping up the bubble then it will be a bad thing.
I haven't completely ruled out the possibility that they will allow the market to crash ... the noises about interest rates, inflation are the pound might suggest this.
Time will tell.
3. cyril said...
In council housing terms a local person means anyone who has lived in an area for 6 months or more so the idea is virtually meaningless.
Housing is so expensive in this country, even the government can't afford it. They should do what they used to do in the 1960s and buy up agricultural land for peanuts and give themselves planning permission to build crappy high rise blocks in the middle of nowhere.
4. tenant super said...
Yes, under existing regulations. Some Councils (like Leeds) are changing this to give additional points to those with a long term connection to the area. If new housing trusts built decent cooperatives that people actually want to live in and administer most of the allocations themselves (Like Coin street who administer the coop flats in the highly desirable Oxo Tower) they can define new criteria.
5. tenant super said...
From another take on the speech:
Mr Shapps also called on groups involved in the housing market, including builders, surveyors, lenders and estate agents, to work together to ensure that the conditions which created housing bubbles in the past were never repeated. He said: "Falling prices are bad for homeowners and builders alike, whilst soaring prices freeze out first-time buyers. "So, we need to build more homes and entrench sensible lending practices so that, in the long run, houses will become more affordable."
So the strategy is an attempt to flatline prices until wages catch up. That generally never happens. Also, wages are going to remain very subdued for a while.
reCaptcha: they nowise
6. quiet guy said...
Some quotes
"the age of aspiration is back"
So now that we have a new government, people are suddenly aspiring again?
"I don't agree with my predecessors that reducing homeownership might be a good thing,"
Labour also encouraged home ownership.
"Most people still want to own their own homes and I want people to know that this government will support them in that."
How exactly? Where's the money coming from?
"To help them we need to get the deficit under control in order to give confidence to mortgage lenders to lend again"
So balancing the budget will enable another credit boom. Hooray!
"Borrowers will need to demonstrate financial responsibility and lenders will need to support creditworthy homeowners."
That's crazy talk Schapps! We'll never get the bubble going again wihout property speculation.
"the cash for affordable housing has run out"
But you just promised to get us aspiring again.
To me, the article reads like random musings of a skint government that wants to be Santa Claus. As Mark Wadsworth says, the best we can hope for is that they stay out of the way when the correction starts.
7. tenant super said...
"the age of aspiration is back"
"So now that we have a new government, people are suddenly aspiring again? "
Agree this is utter rubbish.
"I don't agree with my predecessors that reducing homeownership might be a good thing,"
"Labour also encouraged home ownership."
Yep, this is nodding at the recent comment by John Healy... one comment vs 13 years of Labour bubble stoking?!
"Most people still want to own their own homes and I want people to know that this government will support them in that."
"How exactly? Where's the money coming from?"
The best way they can do this as most people know is to help prices ease back down to a sensible level and as you and MW say, the way to do this is get out of the way.
"To help them we need to get the deficit under control in order to give confidence to mortgage lenders to lend again"
"So balancing the budget will enable another credit boom. Hooray!"
"Borrowers will need to demonstrate financial responsibility and lenders will need to support creditworthy homeowners."
"That's crazy talk Schapps! We'll never get the bubble going again wihout property speculation."
Actually the above two statements are not so contradictory but people need to be able to borrow 90% of house value at a sensible multiple of salary. Since noone can buy at this level, whether or no lenders would currently lend at this level is pretty much unknown.
"the cash for affordable housing has run out"
"But you just promised to get us aspiring again."
Yes but I might hope that this is a hint that bubble propping with shared equity schemes (via Housing Associations that give their CEOs £400k salaries) will be a thing of the past. That's a good thing I would have thought.
8. dill said...
Sightly amusing that at the top of this page is an advert heralding:
"The new Government insolvency scheme"
9. powerofnow said...
"He would not be drawn on the specifics of how lenders would be encouraged to lend more, but said part of the solution was a "structural change" in how supply meets demand."
this should be interesting
10. powerofnow said...
"the cash for affordable housing has run out"
so only enough cash for unaffordable housing then....
11. brickormortis said...
Here's my Affordable Housing plan:
Let house prices fall to a sensible level.
Simples!
12. letthemfall said...
Aspiration is nothing more than a euphemism for aquisitiveness.
I aspire to a fairer society, living in an unpolluted environment and some peace and quiet. I don't see much progress to any of those.