What caused the housing crisis? It’s a big question and, just as there is no silver bullet solution, there’s no one cause. Years of systematic legislative failures of multiple governments, a growing population, slowed building rates and stagnant salaries which have trapped an increasing number of people in the private rented sector are just a few of the answers.
However, if there was ever an image that could sum the current state of affairs up it’s the one currently doing the rounds which features an empty, boarded-up row of houses. They say a picture says a thousand words, and in this case, it couldn’t be truer.
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The houses were bought by property developer Land Securities in 2010 and have stood empty since. They were destined to be refurbished to create 63 affordable homes as part of a planning deal to allow a nearby office block to be developed by Land Securities into 200 luxury apartments.
London’s luxury property market has slowed down, grinding almost to a halt with demand at its lowest point in recent history. This is no bad thing, I hardly need to point out the symbolism presented by gleaming towers full of luxury flats in our capital city.
However, because councils were relying on luxury developers to fund affordable housing this isn’t necessarily good news all around. It means that, like this empty row of tenement houses in Westminster, it’s not just housing we don’t need that isn’t being built but housing we desperately do need. Of course, it shouldn’t be the responsibility of property developers to build affordable housing but that’s where we are…
We are in the midst of a crisiswhich, at its most acute, is felt as an affordable homes crisis and a rise in the number of people sleeping rough. Rents may have dipped slightly after Brexit but they’re still more than most people can afford. Ditto house prices for those lucky enough to be in a position to consider buying a home
Government figures published earlier this yearshow that the number revealed that the number of empty homes in the UK is at its highest level in two decades. We need to build more houses to solve the housing crisis but, surely, we should also be using the ones we already have?
In 1996 there were 800,000 spare homes in the UK, by 2014 there were 1.4 million. These are comprised of second homes or vacant houses like the ones in the picture.
Can we really afford to allow any homes to be left empty?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.