Esther McVey - First Speech As Housing Minister

[rantnrave]

(my emphasis in bold)

https://propertyindustryeye.com/new-housing-minister-defends-right-to-buy-but-says-escalating-house-prices-cannot-be-right/

Now you don’t come into politics as a woman to do ‘housework’, but when the Prime Minister asks you to do so on behalf of your country you make an exception!

And maybe, just maybe Boris thought the ask was so big, building 300,000 homes each year by the mid-2020s, only a woman could get that much ‘housework’ done!

Whilst I might be the first woman in a decade to do this job, you all know there has been nine housing ministers in 9 years, so I want to say, that although we have been many in number, our collective commitment to deliver the homes this country needs has been constant and unwavering.

That working with yourselves, working with the industry, we have together delivered some significant achievements.

•    We published the new National Planning Policy Framework scheme ironing out the planning process to help us deliver the houses we need. Our work on planning reform continues, as we focus on delivering an Accelerated Planning Green Paper.

•    We’ve invested £9 billion in the Affordable Homes Programme and committed a further £2 billion in long-term partnerships that gives Housing Associations the certainty through funding up to 2029, nearly 10 years from now.

•    And we have all focused on ensuring that our flagship Help to Buy programme has driven the supply in new homes and vitally, have helped a new generation of people onto the property ladder.

Progress together has been significant since 2010,

1.3 million more homes have been delivered.

430,000 affordable homes.

With 222,000 additional homes built in the last year alone.

Government is backing the industry with real investment and with interventions. And that is to make the dream of home ownership a reality. A dream that the vast majority of the public still have and continue to have.

And why is that? It’s about having a stake in society, it’s about having security, it is about aspiration, it is actually about freedom. It’s about financial security, and it’s about safety for you and your family and it provides people with a real stake in their community.

And whether you own your home or not, we all need a roof over our head.

I can say that because I’ve had many homes in my life, many experiences in my life.

I’ve been in a Barnardo’s home, I’ve been in my grandparents’ home, I’ve been in a council home, my first family owned home and now my own home.

Every single one holds an exceptional and significant experience for me.

So, providing these homes are essential; to provide homes for all people, from all walks of life, for the need they have at that moment in time.

In fact, it is a scandal, possibly the greatest scandal over the last 30 years that we’ve had a shortage in houses. And that has led, as we know, to a rise in renting and costs, and to a fall in home ownership which has destroyed the aspiration of a generation of working people.

We need to put that right.

And this government, with your help will put that right.

Since the mid-1990s, house prices have risen to 8 times, 10 times, 12 times, in some of the most expensive parts of this country 44 times the actual income of someone, that cannot be right.

Successive Conservative governments have sought to put a lid on that escalation, helping working people get on the housing ladder so they don’t have to dip into the bank of mum and dad.

It still isn’t enough, but we have cut Stamp Duty for 95% of first-time buyers and abolished it altogether for 80% of them.

We’ve introduced Help to Buy, loan and ISA, helping more than half a million have the security of home ownership.

And we’ve continued the hugely successful Right to Buy which has helped generations after generations onto the housing ladder.

But there is a limit to what government can do, for example, Help to Buy is precisely that. It is helping people to buy, it is not helping somebody to make a profit, it is not helping to increase the prices of property. It is about helping people to buy.

So this government will be vigilant about what is working, keeping an eye on our goal. That is a shared goal, helping people into a home and into home ownership.

Extending ownership schemes and building the homes the country needs.

And, we’re doing that straight away, we’ve looked at ownership models, so making Shared Ownership more accessible for working families. We’ve started that already so buyers can have a staircase of 1% increases rather than 10% leaps.

We’re going to look to expand Shared Ownership, supporting it in different ways, taking out what we hear to be the difficulties of it, the expense of it. It shouldn’t be unfair for those trying to get onto the housing market.

And Rent to Buy, so people can rent knowing that they are going to buy, knowing that they’ve got a bit of breathing space, maybe it’s in 5 years, maybe it’s in 10 years, but they will get to own that property – so they can plan, knowing they have the certainty of getting a deposit and getting that house.

And Right to Build, so many places around the world have far more people building their own homes, so we’re going to be there, whether its support for Right to Buy or Right to Build.

And also supporting communities, for Communities to Build.

Because there are so many houses to build – we need to open up all of those opportunities.

Too many people feel that vital link between hard work and owning their own home is broken. And when that link is severed, social mobility and opportunity falls away.

For so many people in our public sector, like our nurses and our teachers, like our police, owning their own home feels like the dream that has been taken away from them.

This is not right, they are the backbone of our country. They deserve a home of their own and they are looking to us to see what we can do. They are looking to us to fix it like we look to them to teach our kids like we look to them when we need healthcare, to look after us. They’re looking to us now to return that favour and look after them.

So, that’s 300,000 more homes a year to build. Each and every year.

Now we’re getting closer to that target – we’re building more, more than before. In fact last year we built more homes than in every year bar one in the last 31 years.

In Greater Manchester, the number of extra homes built is rising by more than 12%.

In Birmingham, it’s rising by 80%.

Only in London, [political content removed], have the number of new homes fallen.

While the trend is heading upwards, I’ve found there’s still serious barriers stopping that progress unnecessarily, and we need to understand what those barriers are, understand what is getting in our way so we can remove them.

We also need to focus on brownfield sites – what are we doing there? Are we doing enough there? Are we building enough homes there? Regeneration must be something we should be most proud of, turning round, I call it, unloved land.

And I know regeneration is a tough thing to do, I know that, that’s what my family’s business is in – demolition, excavation, regeneration, so we know that, and that is why government has put in billions of pounds in support to help with regeneration on brownfield sites and that is what we must do.

Because greenfield land, greenfield sites, should not be what we turn to, not what we look at first.

Every blade of grass must be looked at before it is changed – and it is only in the most exceptional circumstances we turn there and I can announce today councils will receive a share of nearly £2m to crackdown on illegal development, including in the green belt.

I’ll be putting money there, to help with enforcement officers, new technology and legal costs.

And alongside that, there will be a cash boost, from our department too, we are teaming up with the Royal Town Planning Institute to overhaul the National Enforcement Handbook. These are the things that we are offering to do, and can do.

And I want to look at those 300,000 new homes, in a different way now, because I see that as enormous, absolutely enormous.

I just think of the opportunities, enormous opportunities, exciting prospects and I’m talking in design and type.

I’m talking in diversity of homes.

I’m talking in technology of the home.

I’m talking environmentally of the home – carbon zero homes.

I’m taking creativity, in the style of the home, the type of living, reflecting the needs of people, whichever part of the housing ladder, young single people, divorcees, elderly, disabled people, families – all kinds of partnerships.

Each one of these needs a different type of home.

Are we really reflecting those different types of homes and needs?

I speak to young people across the country and they say these homes don’t really reflect what we’d like to see. Some want a family home, some want a bigger home, some want what they see as more like a future community – living in an exceptional space, maybe with a shared gym, maybe with a shared space downstairs, and within it an apartment as their own home, these would be much cheaper in price, a smaller apartment that they could own.

Surely between us, looking across what’s happening in the world, we can get the homes that different generations want.

And what about the jobs and the careers to build all these homes, we need to think about that. We need to be opening up this house building to SME’s, bringing them onboard, bringing it to communities, bringing it to the self-build and bringing in modern methods of construction.

We are now at a transformational turning point where we can make homes by manufacturing them at a very high specification.

Cars, over the years, have gone smarter, faster, sleeker, leaner.

Phones are no longer about talking to one another, they are computers in your pocket, connecting you with the world.

TV’s are bigger, are flatter, are high definition.

Our houses have to be exactly the same, replicate this change, so we can build them faster, sleeker, environmentally friendlier, cheaper and what people want.

Because that is what it’s about, it is about the customer. What do they want?

And that is what we’ve got to be on the side of the person who needs that home, who knows they are putting pretty much all the money they earn into that home, and so it has to be what they want, and not what they are given and just have to accept!

And, we are going to strengthen up home owner’s rights as well, as we consult on a future home owners Ombudsman.

Because now, (as we leave the E.U. and set about building 300,000 homes a year) we could become global leaders in the world of house building, of high end engineering, manufacturing, 3D specification, architecture and traditional build too.

And with that, I see clusters of excellence across the country, of where modular building is being developed – in the North East, Yorkshire, the North West, – I see in my mind’s eye, just like you see homes in your mind’s eye, I see, a Centre of Construction Excellence being established in the North of the country, combining all these things, so we can have a newly found industry. You’re not just living in a home, you can prosper from having a job in creating those homes, when we are building at such a significant scale and pace, the career opportunities are huge.

And we can set new housing standards for the rest of the world.

You talked about Brexit before because yes, we are moving into a world post the EU. With the government’s help we are getting ready for Brexit, helping UK businesses get geared up for the challenges and opportunities ahead. We will be carrying over EU product requirements as valid for sale, to ensure smooth transition for the construction industry.

And we’re making sure we’ve got the skills here in the UK to deliver what we need for that next generation of homes, through our technical hubs, through our, as I see it, Centre of Excellence, which will be industry led, which can deliver training, right up to high end degree apprenticeships.

So we will be bold, we will be visionary, we will be setting the world alight as we go forward with what we can do. I remember somebody said to me, which made such a huge impact on me as a child, you know everything you see, was created within someone’s mind, it never existed until somebody thought of it and then thought of a way to do it.

You are those people.

You are those architects, those visionaries, who set the scene.

Together we will do it.

We will do it together, and please know, the Government will support you.

We have supported you.

Together we have to tackle this Great British housing building problem.

[chronyx]

11 minutes ago, rantnrave said:

Successive Conservative governments have sought to put a lid on that escalation

 

[longgone]

And I know regeneration is a tough thing to do, I know that, that’s what my family’s business is in – demolition, excavation, regeneration, so we know that, and that is why government has put in billions of pounds in support to help with regeneration on brownfield sites and that is what we must do. 

 

 

Trougher Trougher

 

??

[mallish]

I was in a regen scheme a few weeks ago - transformed from a desperate place to one which is nice with green spaces - far less crime as well  - apparently one family vandalised the sales and ifo offices and were dealt with by the residents 

[bushblairandbrown]

Almost enough to make me vote lib dem

[EnglishinWales]

we don't need more houses, I read in the Guardian there's around 600,000 empty houses across the country; we need better regulation to end this Buy-To-Leave nonsense

[danlee74]

24 minutes ago, EnglishinWales said:

we need better regulation to end this Buy-To-Leave nonsense

+1

[“Nasty Piece of work”]

1 hour ago, bushblairandbrown said:

Almost enough to make me vote lib dem

Whenever you feel that ill, just think of their lying, and bumming of Dave.

[GregBowman]

13 minutes ago, Boo Hoo May said:

Whenever you feel that ill, just think of their lying, and bumming of Dave.

LOL - not a liberal party anymore after their unbelievably stupid leader said they would revoke the referendum result without consultation, right up here with uni fees - talk about snatch defeat from the jaws of victory 

[iamnumerate]

1 hour ago, EnglishinWales said:

we don't need more houses, I read in the Guardian there's around 600,000 empty houses across the country; we need better regulation to end this Buy-To-Leave nonsense

Where are they?  Why are they empty?   What percentage of the stock is? I am not convinced that 100% occupancy is possible and in some cases not even desirable.  (There are some houses in St Kilda which have been empty since the 30s but I don't think anyone wants to live there).

 

An Uncle recently went into a care home but they were not sure that he would like it, so they didn't sell his house, then he died.  Now the house is empty why they go through his stuff etc.  It is an empty house but not something that can be easily solved.

[bushblairandbrown]

41 minutes ago, Boo Hoo May said:

Whenever you feel that ill, just think of their lying, and bumming of Dave.

Yes I've run out of options. Brexit party perhaps? Don't believe farage and rees mogg #2 will be any more sensible about housing. 

[PeanutButter]

1 hour ago, iamnumerate said:

Where are they?  Why are they empty?   What percentage of the stock is? I am not convinced that 100% occupancy is possible and in some cases not even desirable.  (There are some houses in St Kilda which have been empty since the 30s but I don't think anyone wants to live there).

 

An Uncle recently went into a care home but they were not sure that he would like it, so they didn't sell his house, then he died.  Now the house is empty why they go through his stuff etc.  It is an empty house but not something that can be easily solved.

Googled: Empty house map London

https://londonist.com/london/housing/how-many-vacant-empty-homes-london

[iamnumerate]

43 minutes ago, PeanutButter said:

Googled: Empty house map London

https://londonist.com/london/housing/how-many-vacant-empty-homes-london

There are 3.56 million houses in London https://www.statista.com/statistics/585272/number-of-dwellings-london-uk/

That is only 6% of the houses and equivalent to only a couple of months of immigration to the UK - it is not a massive amount.

[“Nasty Piece of work”]

1 hour ago, bushblairandbrown said:

Brexit party perhaps? 

Any Leave Party that the Tories hate?  Means good.

Talk of a pact with Tories? Means bad.  I would rather knob a pig.

 

[Trump Invective]

This, on the same day that there are loads of reports that Help to Buy has shafted the taxpayer!?

[PeanutButter]

1 hour ago, iamnumerate said:

There are 3.56 million houses in London https://www.statista.com/statistics/585272/number-of-dwellings-london-uk/

That is only 6% of the houses and equivalent to only a couple of months of immigration to the UK - it is not a massive amount.

Lol @ “only 6%”

OK cool let’s see you take an only 6% pay cut.

Maybe we should keep more houses empty since it’s so low...

Edited September 17, 2019 by PeanutButter

[iamnumerate]

1 minute ago, PeanutButter said:

Lol @ “only 6%”

OK cool let’s see you take an only 6% pay cut.

Maybe we should keep more houses empty since it’s so low...

I don't think that is insignificant but not the solution in itself to the lack of housing. There are sometimes good reasons to have homes empty - people emmigrate and try to sell and the sale falls through  - I know people who have had this problem.

[PeanutButter]

3 minutes ago, iamnumerate said:

I don't think that is insignificant but not the solution in itself to the lack of housing. There are sometimes good reasons to have homes empty - people emmigrate and try to sell and the sale falls through  - I know people who have had this problem.

Fair snuff. Not the same as buy to leave which is the gist of the thing. 

 

[iamnumerate]

2 minutes ago, PeanutButter said:

Fair snuff. Not the same as buy to leave which is the gist of the thing. 

 

I really don't understand buy to leave, prices don't look that they are going to go up substainally so why do it.  If I had investment property - other than where I live - I would sell.  Although I have to say nothing looks a great investment today.

[zugzwang]

Dishonest. Infantilising. Intellectually  bankrupt.

Pretty much a mirror of the UK economy.

Well done, McVile!

[Si1]

16 minutes ago, zugzwang said:

Dishonest. Infantilising. Intellectually  bankrupt.

Pretty much a mirror of the UK economy.

Well done, McVile!

2012 - Dave & Gideon - Boomers vote for us we'll push your house prices up!

2015 - Dave & Gideon - Boomers yay we did it thanks for voting for us!

2019 - Esther McVague - Younger age groups totally screwed by housing costs look we helped you by pushing house prices down not pushing them up like Dave & Gideon said despite the fact they went up just as they said they would to win the previous election! Yay!

[Bear Hug]

More help to buy and shared ownership?! 

Many thanks! Could I also have no parking, no garden, 5 toilets and a couple of smartmeters with that?!

Edited September 17, 2019 by Bear Hug
What newbuilds have only 3 toilets these days?! Make it 5!

[zugzwang]

1 hour ago, Bear Hug said:

More help to buy and shared ownership?! 

Many thanks! Could I also have no parking, no garden, 5 toilets and a couple of smartmeters with that?!

Sure. They'll even throw in a lavatory for you to wash your dirty dishes in.

[bear.getting.old]

The speech was very good and I was all in agreement until she got to saying:

But there is a limit to what government can do, for example, Help to Buy is precisely that. It is helping people to buy, it is not helping somebody to make a profit, it is not helping to increase the prices of property. It is about helping people to buy.

Stupid. Do they really truely think this¿

 

and " Every blade of grass must be looked at before it is changed – and it is only in the most exceptional circumstances we turn there and I can announce today councils will receive a share of nearly £2m to crackdown on illegal development, including in the green belt. "

So we have some nice low density housing like in places like MK, and they want to build it up like London on all little spaces  - idiots

 

 

Edited September 18, 2019 by bear.getting.old

[Dorkins]

6 hours ago, bear.getting.old said:

The speech was very good and I was all in agreement until she got to saying:

But there is a limit to what government can do, for example, Help to Buy is precisely that. It is helping people to buy, it is not helping somebody to make a profit, it is not helping to increase the prices of property. It is about helping people to buy.

Stupid. Do they really truely think this¿

Of course they know that the effect of Help to Buy is to increase prices and hand unearned profits to developers, we are just a bunch of amateurs on the internet and we can work it out so so can they. The denial of the real outcome of their policy is pure cynical politics. Vote accordingly.