Tuesday, Sep 14, 2010
A new twist on the right-to-buy argument
Guardian: London housing crisis: the disappearance of homes for social rent
Interesting blog, I had always bought into the argument (much lauded on the HPC forum) that RTB was the main driver for the lack of social housing stock; Hill argues that Thatcher simply set the precedent for New Labour, who carried the mantle with aplomb:
"The main driver of this trend has, of course, been the right-to-buy policy introduced by Margaret Thatcher. Yet in the case of many boroughs where very large falls have occurred the rate was greater between 1996 and 2006 when, except for the first year and part of 1997, Labour was in power nationally than in the preceding ten under Conservative governments...in the context of London's looming housing calamity, the part that these numbers reveal seems not to reflect well on the Blair-Brown years."
8 Comments
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1. cyril said...
RTB is responsible for the demise of council council housing under both Conservative and Labour governments. I think the Labour government put a cap on the amount of discount but sales continued. Basically, the govt has been earning more from RTB sales than it has invested in new social housing ever since the 1980s. Now it has all gone and they are in the sh+t. Maybe the Big Society will come to the rescue?
2. mark wadsworth said...
Yup, Thatcher (and Tory governments before her) cooked up the whole Home-Owner-Ist philosophy, more's the pity, but NuLab took it to extremes.
The NuLab house price bubble was twice as big and lasted twice as long as the ones under Heath or Thatcher (and will cause twice as much pain to the economy); NuLab sold off twice as many council houses, and (if Uncle Tom is to be believed), under NuLab only half as many new homes were built (certainly fewer family homes but more flats).
But the current lot have recognised the genius of this, and the disgustingly fat one is determined to keep new development down to less than half the already very low rate of new construction since the late dawn of Home-Owner-Ism, i.e since about 1980.
3. greenmind said...
The acceleration of RTB sales in the years following 1996 correlates with the upswing in the housing market, making RTB a much more attractive proposition to all concerned. The Govt sat back and watched.
4. drewster said...
Regardless of RTB, there would still be a large housing shortage. If there are 20m occupied houses, it doesn't make a difference what percentage of them are owner-occupied vs social housing vs private rented. A shortage is a shortage.
5. braindeed said...
4. drewster said...
Regardless of RTB, there would still be a large housing shortage. If there are 20m occupied houses, it doesn't make a difference what percentage of them are owner-occupied vs social housing vs private rented. A shortage is a shortage
The shortage is of property to buy -the BTL scam has taken about 2million off the supply side.
The notion that 'need' over-rides a life times residency didn't help. Refugees should be barred from social housing for ten years - i'd guess asylum seeker numbers would plummetm if that were a rule....but it is a guess, and one that makes me uncomfortable saying it out loud.
6. uncle tom said...
On housing, Mrs T adhered to the principles and promises that she made in opposition, and was elected to office on.
Anyone got a link to what Nu Labour said about housing in '97...??
7. uncle tom said...
Hey ho, I've found it..
Here's a quote from the '97 manifesto:
"With Labour, capital receipts from the sale of council houses, received but not spent by local councils, will be re-invested in building new houses"
- Like hell they did...!
8. braindeed said...
Ut@6...
'Anyone got a link to what Nu Labour said about housing in '97...??'....yeh yeh
....but they were most peoples darlings oh the inflate, otherwise they wouldn't have been re-elected three times
pity Poppy or the Quiet Man didn't get in - they would have stamped on all this speculation, don't you think?