FOCUS ON HOUSING - MARKET PLACE OR A SOCIAL SERVICE?

+ More than 423,000 homes have been given planning permission but are still waiting to be built according to new research published by the Local Government Association (LGA).

+ Rate of homeownership among young, middle-income adults in Britain has more than halved over the last 20 years, says the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS Feb 2018)

+'Under current rules the number of homes built for social rent has dropped from 40,000 (2010) to 5,500' says Lib Dem elected Mayor Dorothy Thornhill

+ Homelessness and the number of rough sleepers continues to rise says National Audit Office

+ London property profile is more than twice the combined value of Britains next nine largest cities, says Zoopla (Feb 2018)

Councils need powers to act on uncompleted schemes

In a study, commissioned by the LGA and carried out by industry experts Glenigan, the backlog in houses WITH PLANNING PERMISSION waiting to be built has grown by almost 16 per cent in the last year.
In 2015/16, the total number of unimplemented planning permissions in England & Wales was 365,146, rising to 423,544 in 2016/17.
Developers are taking longer to build new homes. It now takes 40 months, on average, from receiving planning permission to work being completed - eight months longer than in 2013/14.
The planning system is clearly not a barrier to building as is sometimes claimed. Councils are approving nine in every 10 planning applications, and granted planning permission in 2016/17 for 321,202 new homes - up from 204,989 new homes in 2015/16.
The LGA says the new analysis underlines the need for councils to be given greater powers to take action on unbuilt land which has planning permission.
It says councils need powers to act on uncompleted schemes, including making it easier to compulsory purchase land where homes remain unbuilt, and to be able to charge developers full council tax for every unbuilt development from the point that the original planning permission expires.

Homeownership research points to 'growing generational strains'

We are hearing more and more stories of adults unable to find somewhere affordable to rent or buy and returning home to live with Mum and Dad. Well the Institute for Fiscal Studies have come up with the figures. Only 27 percent of Britons aged between 25 and 34 with incomes in the middle bracket for their age owned a home in 2015/16, down from 65 percent in 1995/96, according to the IFS.

'Developers are let off the hook' when it comes to building affordable homes'

Elected Mayor of Watford, Dorothy Thornhill, has criticised government's policy on affordable housing in a speech in the House of Lords, arguing that the current rules 'let developers off the hook' when it comes to building affordable homes. New rules introduced in 2012 mean that developers can now argue that they don't need to include affordable homes in a scheme if it makes it unprofitable for the developers. The Government's figures show that 40,000 social homes were built for social rent in 2010, but since the rules came into place, it has now dropped to 5,500."

At the Liberal Democrat spring conference at Southport next month, a motion tabled by ALDC, includes re-affirming our pledge to scrap the borrowing cap. It is by no means the only measure we need to get more socially rented and affordable housing built, but if we are to meet the target of 300,000 homes a year then this can only help.

LGA Lib Dem Group Leader, Howard Sykes, said: "The cross-party House of Commons Treasury select committee has certainly seen the light and has just released a report calling on the housing borrowing cap to be abolished, echoing the long standing call from the Liberal Democrats and the LGA. The Government should also accept the calls of the LGA and the Select Committee and scrap the cap on council borrowing so that councils can quickly build additional new homes that are affordable".

Rough sleeper numbers continue to rise.

"Until the Government commits to the funding needed to prevent homelessness and builds more genuinely affordable homes, and invests properly in mental health care, the number will continue to rise". says Lib Dem Leader Vince Cable.

"This is why I'm putting tackling rough sleeping, and the wider issue of homelessness, at the heart of my leadership of the Liberal Democrats".

A snapshot overnight count last autumn (2017) found there were 4,134 rough sleepers - an increase of 134% since the Conservatives came into government, said the National Audit Office.

London property profile puts estimated value at £1.5 trillion

The Zoopla analysis says the £1.5 trillion London property portfolio is more than twice the value of the next nine largest cities in Britain.

More powers to deal with empty properties
LGA Lib Dem Group are also calling for other steps - for example reform of legislation over empty homes and compulsory purchase orders, so councils have more power to deal with those properties. We're saying that local government should have the power to direct the use of public owned land which is being sold off - including those owned by Whitehall departments - for socially rented or affordable housing.

( see also 'Time to act on empty homes' ESLD website article 26th January).