UK's Housing Crisis Needs a London-Sized City to Fix It
The UK faces a severe housing crisis, needing to build a city the size of London to catch up with decades of under-construction. Both parties promise solutions, but challenges hinder progress.
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The UK is facing a severe housing crisis, with a shortage of homes equivalent to building another city the size of London to catch up with five decades of below-target construction. Developers and local authorities have failed to keep up with population growth, leading to the worst housing crisis since World War II. Both major political parties promise to increase building rates, but it would take 14 years to address the shortage even at the pace seen in the 1970s. The crisis has driven up house prices, pricing out many younger Britons and making housing a top concern for adults. Bottlenecks in the planning system and resistance from existing homeowners have hindered progress. The housing shortage not only impacts individuals but also limits the nation's growth potential and productivity. The crisis is felt most acutely in areas with high migration and poor planning, exacerbating issues like rising homelessness and city-wide housing crunches. Efforts to address the crisis include proposed planning reforms and building on certain parts of the Green Belt, but political challenges and historical policy decisions have complicated solutions.
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8 commentswas talking about this with a friend who knows more. He did point out we need to replace old housing stock, which we also don't do, so just have cold, mouldy old houses. But that's not what's being talked about here.
I also had a twitter conv with a housing charity once, who agreed but pointed out that the financialization of property is hard to overturn, and it's easier to just advocate for more building. Problem I see here is that the new buildings will just be more stock for existing portfolios, and actual prices don't seem to reduce.
Record immigration allowed, without anywhere near the housing to support it
http://archive.today/2024.06.25-155719/https://www.bloomberg...
Also posted 14 hours ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40835727
[0]: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/net-supply-of-hous...
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