Build baby, build. That’s how the Prime Minister answered reporters asking about his Government’s proposed changes to planning law, taking a leaf out of the book of his US counterpart both linguistically and by using a sound bite to offer a simple solution to an incredibly complex issue.
Because, whether the Government accepts it or not, changing the planning system, and, in turn, fixing the housing crisis it has partly created, is incredibly complicated.
We have the worst social housing crisis of any wealthy country. Shelter estimates that 90,000 social homes must be built every year for the next decade to clear the current waiting list. While a recent Sky News investigation found that children in some places in England were spending as long as five and a half years living in temporary accommodation.
The Government’s solution to this crisis? To build more homes. Oh, if only it was this easy.
Ever since the Government announced plans to drastically increase housebuilding, any naysayers have been dismissed as nimbys or blockers – reductive terms that take all the nuance out of the debate and turn it into a simple: us vs. them.
Which it’s not. No one who’s contesting the Government’s plans is doing so because they want the housing crisis to continue. The debate is not whether we should build new homes. It’s about the types of homes we build.
Currently, Labour’s plans to build 1.5m new homes hinge on six volume housebuilders. Volume housebuilders are exactly what they sound like: they build many homes, using a limited design, and, in the past, have tended to prioritise larger, unaffordable homes, which yield more profit than smaller ones.
Given the UK’s housing crisis is driven less by affluent people moving from one home to another and more by those struggling to get on the housing ladder in the first place, one would hope the Government would change these building incentives?
But shockingly, they haven’t. So even if the Government can build all the homes they’ve promised, there’s no guarantee housing would become any cheaper. In fact, one study suggested building 300,000 homes every year for the next two decades would bring prices down by just 10%.
This would be a terrible outcome for Devon, which, thanks to a toxic combination of high property prices and low incomes, already finds itself in a “housing emergency”, according to a report from the Devon Housing Commission.
This emergency is particularly acute in South Devon. Today, the average house price is now 14x the average salary, while in the South Hams specifically, total council spending on temporary accommodation has soared from £175,000 a year to £500,000 – representing 5% of the entire council budget.
The knock-on effect this is having on our public services is huge. Since the election, I’ve visited schools, hospitals, hospices, and fire stations, and every single one told me they are struggling to recruit. People cannot afford to live here, and our public services are struggling to cope as a result.
Building new homes isn’t going to solve this emergency or bring the price of housing down. It’s just going to attract more people who want to live in a beautiful part of the world like ours.
Labour must understand that house building isn’t just about numbers. It’s about addressing the needs of an area.
What we need is truly affordable houses and social housing for rent. To this end, the Liberal Democrats are calling for the Government to commit to building 150,000 social homes a year. Everyone deserves a stable roof over their head. And this will help the recruitment crisis facing South Devon.
If you wish to contact me about this or another issue you are facing, please do so at: caroline.voaden.mp@parliament.uk
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