Posts with tag: housing crisis

Housing and Planning Bill Passes Report Stage

Published On: January 6, 2016 at 9:23 am

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Last night, the Housing and Planning Bill passed its report stage in the House of Commons.

After many official announcements beforehand, the debate started in the evening.

The bill is now set for its third reading. It is the first bill with an English legislative stage, with only English MPs allowed to vote on certain sections. The date for the English stage and third reading is yet to be confirmed.

Housing and Planning Bill Passes Report Stage

Housing and Planning Bill Passes Report Stage

The bill will introduce a blacklist of rogue landlords and letting agents, which will be made available to local authorities and central Government.

Additionally, for the first time, the bill will make it possible to ban landlords and agents from the industry. However, at present, the bill still allows banned letting agents to set up as estate agents.

Amendment 16, tabled by the Government, will raise the maximum fine for someone caught renting out substandard accommodation from £5,000 to £30,000.

The bill will also extend the Right to Buy scheme to housing association tenants and force local authorities to build starter homes for first time buyers; opponents have attacked the laws, believing they will bring an end to social housing.

A few hours before the debate yesterday, protestors gathered in Parliament Square to voice their opinions.

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, representing Brighton Pavilion, voted against the bill.

She explains: “The housing crisis is biting hard. Renting is unaffordable, our social housing stock is dwindling and buying a home is still an impossible dream for many. And, as with so many of the challenges our society faces, it is the young who are suffering the worst.

“The Government had an opportunity to utterly rethink the housing model, but instead, Parliament is being presented with legislation that’s going to make the situation far worse and put another nail in the coffin for British social housing.”

However, she adds: “There are a few good measures in the bill. The provisions on rogue landlords, letting agents and the introduction of a brownfield register are welcome, but they simply don’t go far enough to protect renters or encourage the building of truly affordable homes.

“The overall effect of this legislation will be to inflict further harm on those already suffering and to drag more people into the housing crisis. It will decrease the amount of social housing, fail to bring down sky-high rental costs and do nothing to keep people warm in their homes.

“For example, the bill should have looked at ways to make rents fall, but it doesn’t even go as far as bringing in smart rent controls to keep them in line with inflation.”

She concludes: “The housing crisis we’re facing is the result of botched policies by successive Governments, and this latest bill is set to compound that failure.”1

What are your views on the new bill?

1 http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/housing-and-planning-bill-set-to-raise-fines-against-agents-and-landlords-to-30000/

Only a Huge House Building Scheme Will Keep Housing Under Control, says NAEA and ARLA

Published On: January 5, 2016 at 3:04 pm

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The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) have responded to ministers over the housing crisis. They believe that the only way to control the property market is through “a massive house building programme”.

The call is included in the organisations’ response to a Government consultation on housing.

Only a Huge House Building Scheme Will Keep Housing Under Control, says NAEA and ARLA

Only a Huge House Building Scheme Will Keep Housing Under Control, says NAEA and ARLA

The document states that to increase the supply of reasonably priced homes, finance, land, time and skill are necessary.

“We need to stop thinking of housing policy in five-year election cycles and adopt a long-term approach to this critical issue,” it argues.

The response lists a number of measures that would help increase the amount of affordable homes.

It notes: “Bricks and other materials must be ordered a year before a home can be built and the UK needs skilled workers to ensure that properties are built to a high standard.”

It says that homes must be built on “suitable land that is located along existing transport corridors” and the “supply of reasonably priced housing coincides with infrastructure improvements”.

The groups also urge these homes to be built alongside “schools, hospitals, local shops and green spaces”, and believe better use of “unused public sector land” would benefit the market. This has been pledged in the latest Government starter homes scheme: /house-builders-respond-to-governments-latest-home-building-plans/

Once the homes are built, the NAEA and ARLA insist that “people need support in accessing finance to purchase property”, as house prices still exceed wages.

On private rental sector improvements, the document states: “ARLA believes that full mandatory Government regulation of sales and letting agents is the quickest and most effective method to eliminate unprofessional, unqualified and unethical agents from the rental market.”

“We think increasing supply of rental properties and raising standards across the industry must go hand-in-hand,” it adds.

The response – to the House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs Inquiries into the Economics of the UK Housing Market – also warns against rent controls, claiming that if limitations on rent increases were introduced, landlords would start new tenancies with higher rents to prevent losses.

It says: “Higher rents would be essential to ensure mortgage payments and maintenance costs could be met.”1

1 http://www.naea.co.uk/media/1043996/naea-arla-response-to-house-of-lords-inquiry-into-economics-of-uk-housing-market.pdf

 

 

 

 

House Builders Respond to Government’s Latest Home Building Plans

Published On: January 5, 2016 at 12:02 pm

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The Government has announced that it will directly commission thousands of new build homes on publicly owned land, allowing smaller house builders to create developments.

The first phase of the plan will include up to 13,000 homes, of which up to 40% will be discounted starter homes for first time buyers, offered at a 20% price reduction.

The initial five sites are in northwest London, Northstowe in Cambridgeshire, Dover, Chichester and Gosport in Hampshire.

Over the next five years, further brownfield sites will be pushed through the planning process, leading to the development of at least 30,000 new starter homes on 500 sites.

The Government described the scheme as a “radical new policy shift not used on this scale since Thatcher and Heseltine started the Docklands”1.

House Builders Respond to Government's Latest Home Building Plans

House Builders Respond to Government’s Latest Home Building Plans

It previously announced a commitment to providing 200,000 starter homes by 2020.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, said: “This Government was elected to deliver security and opportunity – whatever stage of life you’re at. Nothing is more important to achieving that than ensuring hard-working people can buy affordable homes.

“Today’s package signals a huge shift in Government policy. Nothing like that has been done on this scale in three decades; Government rolling its sleeves up and directly getting homes built.”1

House builders believe it is positive that the Government is addressing the housing crisis, while an organisation for protecting rural England insists that the scheme will not even help wealthy youngsters get on the property ladder.

Executive Director of the Home Builders Federation, Stewart Baseley, comments: “House building rates have been increasing at the steepest rates for decades, with additional supply reaching 171,000 last year.

“But we welcome the fact that the Government is clearly prioritising housing supply rates, particularly with regard to streamlining the process of building homes on public sector land.

“If we are to address the chronic shortage of homes that has developed over decades, strong Government leadership is essential.”

He continues: “Allowing smaller builders to access publicly owned sites is a welcome move that must be part of a wider set of measures to assist SME builders [small and medium sized house builders] and get more players on the pitch.

“Clearly the devil will be in the detail and we await further information.”

Baseley adds: “Direct commissioning will only be successful if it speeds up the release of public sector land and results in more house building than would have happened using the more traditional methods of public-sector land disposal.

“A lower-risk model could allow larger builders to increase their output still further, while also enabling smaller house builders to increase output. Both have an essential role to play. It is not a question of either/or.”2

But the Campaign to Protect Rural England has another argument, stating that the Government’s plans to build the homes “at just 20% off ludicrous market values is a fatuous response to the biggest housing crisis since the Second World War”.

It claims: “At best, it will help those younger people on salaries far above the average, especially in London. Even a banker on £100,000 a year would struggle to raise a £400,000 mortgage, and that assumes a deposit of at least £50,000 – far above the average salary at £25,000 and utterly unreachable by anyone else.”3

1 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-the-government-will-directly-build-affordable-homes

2 http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/smaller-developers-handed-housebuilding-boost/10001059.fullarticle

3 http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jan/04/housing-masterplan-needs-a-rethink

Prospective Buyers Must Now Save for 24 Years

Published On: December 26, 2015 at 2:44 pm

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Prospective homebuyers must now save for up to 24 years for a deposit large enough to secure them a mortgage, claims new research.

The Resolution Foundation think-tank has used the Bank of England’s latest study of household finances to suggest that as house prices are rising sharply, it will now take almost 25 years for low and middle-income households to raise a deposit if they save 5% of their disposable income every year.

Prospective Buyers Must Now Save for 24 Years

Prospective Buyers Must Now Save for 24 Years

This is lower than the time needed just before the recession, but is significantly lower than the three years needed in the 1980s and 90s. Additionally, this news arrives despite interest rates remaining at the record low of 0.5%, as set by the Bank of England (BoE) during the financial crisis.

Chancellor George Osborne has launched a series of Help to Buy schemes, including shared ownership and taxpayer mortgage guarantees for first time buyers, promising to turn generation rent into generation buy.

However, Chief Economist at Resolution, Matt Whittaker, warns that Help to Buy may boost house price rises, pushing housing further out of reach for low-income households.

He says: “To the extent that these schemes have stoked demand so propped up house prices in recent years, they have served to make homeownership even less attainable for many, while increasing the gains flowing to older homeowners who have been the main beneficiaries of the sustained housing boom.”1

The think-tank has raised concerns that the increasing cost of homeownership is aggravating a generational divide – the baby boomers having accumulated financial stability and young workers struggling with lower wages.

Having analysed the BoE’s data, Resolution found that among households headed by under-45s, 28% of non-homeowners believe they will never be able to buy. Among the poorest fifth of households, this grows to 39%.

Co-founder of the Intergenerational Foundation think-tank – which campaigns for benefits for younger households – Ashley Seager, comments: “Today’s wealthy baby boomers found it easy to buy housing a generation or two ago, especially as MIRAS tax relief on mortgages was available to them.

“But now their children and grandchildren cannot access housing in anything like the same way.”1

However, he welcomes Osborne’s recent crackdown on the buy-to-let sector through the restriction on tax relief that landlords can claim.

The BoE’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC), which has the job of preventing future financial crises, also warns that it is becoming increasingly concerned about whether buy-to-let investors are driving an unsustainable boom.

Osborne is currently consulting over whether to give the FPC further powers over buy-to-let, which could cause the mortgage market to dry up.

1 http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/dec/20/uk-home-buyers-save-24-years-housing-ladder-deposit-study

 

It’ll be Lonely This Christmas

Published On: December 22, 2015 at 12:43 pm

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It'll be Lonely This Christmas

It’ll be Lonely This Christmas

This year saw a rise of 45% in the amount of families with children living in emergency housing – the highest level for 12 years. With the housing crisis taking a hold on the country, many will be homeless this Christmas.

Housing charities are sharing their appeals for help this year, as the lack of property supply and rising house prices push more and more people out of their homes.

Can you help?

Crisis is asking you to Reserve a Place this festive season, with donations of £22.29 enough to welcome a homeless person into a Crisis centre, three nutritious hot meals for them – including Christmas dinner – and the opportunity to shower, a change of clothes, a haircut and a health check. Those seeking help will also be given expert advice on life-changing issues, such as housing and employment, and be informed of Crisis’ year-round services.

Find out more and donate here: https://community.crisis.org.uk/reserve-a-place-general?attr1=tag%7Creserve

Shelter has found that more than 100,000 children will be homeless this Christmas, but you can help them wake up in their own bed. Just £30 will provide cooking facilities for healthy family meals, while £60 will help the charity offer practical support and make sure no one faces homelessness alone. £80 could also help Shelter’s lawyers provide free, expert advice to avoid families losing their home.

Give to these families here: http://england.shelter.org.uk/donate/homelessatchristmas?vwo_ad=100k_homeless&gclid=Cj0KEQiAhuSzBRDBoZfG56bK9-YBEiQARiPcZdkC5G5l7K8JEIg8Y2jZGKO3kTOSSTHchXNY8QetBUYaAgye8P8HAQ

Spread the love 

Costa Coffee has also joined in on tackling homelessness, with its Swansea Oxford Street store opening especially on Christmas Day to give out free coffee, food and presents to homeless people in the city. Eight of the chain’s staff have volunteered for the event and NHS nurses will be on hand offering aid and support.

Why don’t you give the gift of giving this year and help the many people that won’t wake up in their own beds on Christmas morning?

Chancellor Warned to Ease Off on Private Landlords

Published On: December 18, 2015 at 3:10 pm

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Major property firm LSL Property Services has called for the Treasury to ease off on private landlords, suggesting that the Government looks for solutions to the housing crisis.

It also reports that the average monthly rent price in England and Wales fell to just under £800 in November.

Chancellor Warned to Ease Off on Private Landlords

Chancellor Warned to Ease Off on Private Landlords

Your Move and Reeds Rains, both companies under LSL, claim that the average rent is now £799 per month, a 1.2% decrease on the previous month and down from September’s record high of £816.

Although rents have fallen on a monthly basis, they have increased by 4% annually and the firms expect to see further rises in the early spring of next year.

Director of the two firms, Adrian Gill, believes: “Landlords have become fashionable targets for the Government and Bank of England.

“This is overdue attention for the sector that provides homes for more than one in five Britons.

“But negative campaigns and unconstructive policies, designed to attack landlords rather than support tenants, will not make rents lower or provide more homes.

“The effect will be quite the opposite, forcing rents upwards.”

Two-and-a-half years ago, LSL predicted that rents would surpass the £800 mark in mid-2015; this forecast was accurate, with rents breaking through that level in July of this year.

LSL also reports that rental yields for landlords have dropped, while tenants’ finances have worsened, causing more rent arrears.

Gill continues: “For new entrants, or landlords looking to invest in additional properties to let, market conditions could be a little harder to navigate than six months ago.

“Choosing the right property in the right area is even more important when looking for the best rental yield on new investments.

“Partly this is down to enormous competition in the property purchase market – homes are being sold rapidly, whether to landlords or owner-occupiers. It is a property seller’s market.”

He adds: “Similarly as yields continue to feel the pressure of rising prices, other factors will need to adjust in turn. That means higher rents. Most likely this will push rents higher still and indicates an earlier spring for rent rises in 2016.

“Combined with the latest attacks on landlords from the Government, this could propel demand even higher for every single home that landlords do have to offer.

“A continued shortage of properties to let is the challenge to overcome and the Government needs to think pragmatically about this conundrum, rather than looking for political targets.”1 

1 http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/lay-off-private-landlords-lsl-firms-tell-chancellor/