Soldato
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There should not have been a space between "poor" and "house".
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Housing crisis solutions
- Thread starter ChroniC
- Start date
Erm well that's kind of entirely my point! Every single aspect of the UK housing is so catastrophically badly managed it's baffling as someone that's seen a functioning housing market that everyone there just bends over and puts up with it.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4...4!1sE-Fop7oZW3oHBXx9szNuQg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
One of many empty council homes, there another 100 flats up the road that lay empty
Associate
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- Hertfordshire
I have been lucky, our house didn't devalue at all it just stopped increasing for a short while.
So, it's not a British obsession with ownership - it's a symptom because of the general FUBAR situation. We need to place the burden of blame not on the average British person being obsessive but on the system that is lining the pockets of the already wealthy (in most cases) at the cost of the taxpayer.
But I agree I don't know why people just take it. Part of me thinks that the people are that pacified with reality TV and Sky Sports that they may as well be plugged in like some sci-fi movie. People don't even exercise their right to politically change things by voting so for them to physically protest is never going to happen.
Let's face it the only thing that is going to solve the housing problem is bird-flu or its ilk.
The thing is, everyone (including myself) is so preoccupied with solving their own mini housing crisis that they're not looking long term. Quick way to shut someone up who doesn't agree there is a housing crisis is to ask them exactly how you think all these renters are going to be able to afford thousands of pounds every month for rent, when all they're getting is the state pension?!
Soldato
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- 30 Sep 2005
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- 16,976
That makes sense, for a minute I thought you liked plasterboard walls, lagging free water pipes and postage stamp sized gardens 
And therein lies the key to the problem. If you want to live in the same place as everyone else, you're going to have to be prepared to pay for the privilege. If there's 1 house for sale and 10 people want it, no legislation is going to change the fact that you'll need to pay more than the other 9 to get it.
The thing is, everyone (including myself) is so preoccupied with solving their own mini housing crisis that they're not looking long term. Quick way to shut someone up who doesn't agree there is a housing crisis is to ask them exactly how you think all these renters are going to be able to afford thousands of pounds every month for rent, when all they're getting is the state pension?!
Its a bomb waiting to go off. Without house ownership and without the ability to afford a place within the private market (pensions dont go that far!), we are going to be left with a huge tab that the tax payer is going to have to pick up.
It doesn't bear thinking about.
And what happens when our ridiculous market causes places like Stoke to be unaffordable? Where do we move then? The argument to 'move somewhere you can afford' is short-termist and doesn't get to the crux of the issue. All of which has been outlined by various posters including myself. Commuter belt towns in the SE are now rising just as fast (if not faster) than London because London is now deemed totally unaffordable. What happens when that spreads further afield? Sorry, can't live in Peterborough or Norwich anymore, because, you know.. housing crisis
EDIT: Gosh how my dream is to live in Reading, Slough, or Thurrock
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Where are all the people who are moving to Stoke and pushing the prices up coming from? If they're all moving out of e.g. the SE then isn't that going to reduce prices there due to reduced demand?
If you take the argument "it's short-termist" to it's logical conclusion, then there isn't a solution to the "housing crisis" because even building new houses as fast as possible will eventually take up all the space in the world.
It's a population problem, and unless you happen to be working on a plan to release a smallpox plague across the world then any "solution" is merely delaying the inevitable.
Of course the above is a silly PoV to take, but ultimately any finite resource with increasing demand is going become harder and harder to obtain. The only way to reduce demand for housing is to reduce the population.
If you take the argument "it's short-termist" to it's logical conclusion, then there isn't a solution to the "housing crisis" because even building new houses as fast as possible will eventually take up all the space in the world.
It's a population problem, and unless you happen to be working on a plan to release a smallpox plague across the world then any "solution" is merely delaying the inevitable.
Of course the above is a silly PoV to take, but ultimately any finite resource with increasing demand is going become harder and harder to obtain. The only way to reduce demand for housing is to reduce the population.
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Permabanned
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ahem...Slough upon Thames...
Fwiw the German market is rapidly catching up with the UK due to a boom in foreign investment (mostly Russian and Chinese, sound familiar?)
Some parts like NRW (including Dusseldorf) aren't too bad at the moment, but Hamburg is SE UK prices now and rising at an impressive rate.
Associate
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- 20 Dec 2015
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- Hertfordshire
And what happens when our ridiculous market causes places like Stoke to be unaffordable? Where do we move then? The argument to 'move somewhere you can afford' is short-termist and doesn't get to the crux of the issue. All of which has been outlined by various posters including myself. Commuter belt towns in the SE are now rising just as fast (if not faster) than London because London is now deemed totally unaffordable. What happens when that spreads further afield? Sorry, can't live in Peterborough or Norwich anymore, because, you know.. housing crisis
EDIT: Gosh how my dream is to live in Reading, Slough, or Thurrock
In my commuter belt town a 2 bed terraced house starts at £400k, a 3 bed detached at £500k and a 4 bed detached starts at about £700k.
It's starting to pick up, but the difference is that firstly the authorities are prepared to step in to cool the market, and supply is strong.
UK goverment continues to throw money at HTB, UK housebuilders are in the process of shutting off supply (again) in response to the latest bust cycle (again).
I'm french, and I'm always amazed at how completely bonkers the UK people are regarding 'a home'. Land is /wasted/ by building lots of tiny little ridiculous houses, when for example in france, in the same place they would build a luxury block of flat; like 3 storey high. Said flats would be considerably better than the crummy house equivalent.
Basically the land is wasted just because of a cultural idea that you need a little house on the street to be 'someone'.
Basically the land is wasted just because of a cultural idea that you need a little house on the street to be 'someone'.
They could certainly do a lot worse that build more of the German style 4-5 storey townhouses, full of big apartments with nice balconies etc. Much prefer this style of living to being in a pokey terrace with a postage stamp back garden.
It's not cultural, its just a matter of money. People can't afford to rent on a pension.
Gosh how my dream is to live in Reading, Slough, or Thurrock
Oi, Reading isnt that bad. !
