O/T Its surprising how people vote

[Exiletyke]

i dont see councils jumping in a building new homes theres nothing to stop them they were like lightning in hand them over to housing associations to get them of the books.
as for house building its clear that loads need to be built but the house builders are sitting on the land waiting for house prices to rise in that area b4 they build this is what needs to stop they need to be made to build the houses within a certain amount of time when they get building permissions.
the maths is simple build more the prices come down but the house builders dont want this to happen.

So you're not aware of the restraints the Gov't imposes on LA's in their ability to borrow for house building

The government has already announced that it is reclassifying housing associations as private bodies, thereby freeing them to borrow. While this is a welcome step, to truly tackle the housing crisis the government must extend the right to borrow to local authorities, allowing them to invest in building a new generation of council homes. [/quote]

[KerrAvon]

That's all well and good trashing the Labour project but I see nothing coming from the government in the way of idea's and the will to implement them .

Last week the PM made a speech about housing , we need to build more , which suggests enough aren't getting built , she couldn't be more wrong in my opinion .

The amount of houses getting built reconciles with the amount of people who can afford them , what is the point of building new homes when first time buyers can't afford them ? , how does this solve anything ?

The right thing to do is to build more social housing , that's what the young people are crying out for , a home they can afford .

This of course doesn't chime with Tory policy does it ?

Many young people realise owning a home is going to be a big ask given wage deflation and ever increasing house prices .

The right thing to do or follow the Thatcher 1980's model ?

Even 1950's tory governments carried on building social housing in there thousands because there was a need .

The answer seems pretty clear to me .

The Labour 'project'? I can't see any project, just a lot of expensive promises that bear more than a passing resemblance to the failed tax, borrow, spend and inflate Labour policies of the 70s.

You'd have to ask a Tory about Tory policies, but the structural deficit has been eliminated, which has to be a good thing for all of us.

On housing, I’d simply observe that price is a function of supply and demand. House prices will fall if more are built.

Many young people realise owning a home is going to be a big ask, because it always has been. It requires commitment and thrift. What I don’t understand is how building council houses is going to help anyone in realising their hopes of owning a house.

Is this the face of the Labour 'project'? The ability to rent a council house?

[Exiletyke]

What an abject excuse for a human being you are

[yorkshireborn]

So you're not aware of the restraints the Gov't imposes on LA's in their ability to borrow for house building

The government has already announced that it is reclassifying housing associations as private bodies, thereby freeing them to borrow. While this is a welcome step, to truly tackle the housing crisis the government must extend the right to borrow to local authorities, allowing them to invest in building a new generation of council homes.

[/QUOTE]

never said owt about borrowing theres many councils out there that have lots of savings and could easily use that to build new houses.
theres no land to purchase so a massive saving there they just need the cost to build and there low cost housing so wont be that expensive to build.

[Gwynn Thomas vs stum]

This always goes back to the same thing with me. I would love any government we have to put proper measures and checks in place to spend more on the genuinely needy and completely cut off the scrounging *******. I’ve done enough work over the last couple of decades on social housing within Yorkshire. We are getting our pants pulled down by the habitual claimant and I would happily see the money for these shysters given to people in trouble. Back to the council house point, If we are to build more, at bare minimum, grow some ballax and police or properly. You never know, we may actually be able to look after our own vulnerable citizens

[animallittle3]

The Labour 'project'? I can't see any project, just a lot of expensive promises that bear more than a passing resemblance to the failed tax, borrow, spend and inflate Labour policies of the 70s.

You'd have to ask a Tory about Tory policies, but the structural deficit has been eliminated, which has to be a good thing for all of us.

On housing, I’d simply observe that price is a function of supply and demand. House prices will fall if more are built.

Many young people realise owning a home is going to be a big ask, because it always has been. It requires commitment and thrift. What I don’t understand is how building council houses is going to help anyone in realising their hopes of owning a house.

Is this the face of the Labour 'project'? The ability to rent a council house?

Commitment and thrift , hmm , since 1995 average UK house prices have risen by 300% , in some parts of London it's a 1000% .

I'm sure you'd agree that wages are unlikely to have risen by that amount , in fact average wages for people in the 22 - 30 age group have seen them fall by 7% since 2007 .

A commitment to building more sociable housing is a need given the chronic lack of affordable homes .

Social housing projects are normally very well managed and maintained schemes , repairs are generally carried out to a high standard .

Many private lets do not always follow the same pattern .

Social housing is a far more secure tenancy than private rented accommodation , it's generally yours for life if you abide by the code and obviously pay the rent .

I never suggested social housing was the path towards home ownership although lower rents could benefit anyone who wants to do so with regard to savings .

As I suggested many young people already realise home ownership is unrealistic given wage deflation and high prices and social housing bridges that gap .

[animallittle3]

This always goes back to the same thing with me. I would love any government we have to put proper measures and checks in place to spend more on the genuinely needy and completely cut off the scrounging *******. I’ve done enough work over the last couple of decades on social housing within Yorkshire. We are getting our pants pulled down by the habitual claimant and I would happily see the money for these shysters given to people in trouble. Back to the council house point, If we are to build more, at bare minimum, grow some ballax and police or properly. You never know, we may actually be able to look after our own vulnerable citizens

Drug addiction is a massive part of this Gwynn .

Little story for you regarding this and the problem in general .

I work for a very good company , the pay is far higher than you would normally receive in this sector and we enjoy loads of other benefits .

Late last year there was an accident , nothing serious but none the less it needed an investigation as all accidents do .

Part of this process is a drugs and alcohol test for person or persons involved .

Cannabis was found in the employees system , normally this results in instant dismissal , the company decided against that and tried to help and support the employee by suspending him on full pay and given a sufficient numbers of weeks to give up the weed and then be re-tested at an agreed date .

He rang up a week later and asked to come in and clear his locker out and wouldn't be returning to the company .

It's highly unlikely he will receive the same benefits in this sector should he have found another employer .

The mind boggles as he was in his early 40's and hardly a kid .

[red flagged]

Wow, this thread just keeps on running.

Two things - when you allow uncontrolled immigration on such a scale that our population year on year increases by enough people to fill a city the size of Liverpool you should hardly be surprised that the strain put on resources such as welfare, housing,education and the nhs puts these resources as breaking point.

I give you the happy clappers and their idealogy, even Merkel has had to admit that there are areas of Germany that are no go for Germans now.

Second thing - almost all hose builders have to build in an element of affordable housing into their developments to get it through planning. And getting any development through planning is a huge and very expensive task which only ever pushes up the cost of the development and therefore the houses.

I know of one serial objector who has prevented Selby council building social housing just outside the town centre, and has also held up a development on the edge of York for seven years and it's still not been allowed to go ahead. Not on the principle of the development itself ( which has been passed by North Yorks Council 3 times), but on legal technicalities.This can only add to the cost of the development if it ever goes ahead.

The solution isn't just to say build more houses, the will is there, but there are very often too many obstacles put in the way.

[animallittle3]

Wow, this thread just keeps on running.

Two things - when you allow uncontrolled immigration on such a scale that our population year on year increases by enough people to fill a city the size of Liverpool you should hardly be surprised that the strain put on resources such as welfare, housing,education and the nhs puts these resources as breaking point.

I give you the happy clappers and their idealogy, even Merkel has had to admit that there are areas of Germany that are no go for Germans now.

Second thing - almost all hose builders have to build in an element of affordable housing into their developments to get it through planning. And getting any development through planning is a huge and very expensive task which only ever pushes up the cost of the development and therefore the houses.

I know of one serial objector who has prevented Selby council building social housing just outside the town centre, and has also held up a development on the edge of York for seven years and it's still not been allowed to go ahead. Not on the principle of the development itself ( which has been passed by North Yorks Council 3 times), but on legal technicalities.This can only add to the cost of the development if it ever goes ahead.

The solution isn't just to say build more houses, the will is there, but there are very often too many obstacles put in the way.

They also have to be built in any areas with amenities such as schools etc etc , this will also have a bearing on the price .

Then there's global property speculators , especially in the major cities , many buy houses and leave them empty and wait whilst the price shoots up , sell and repeat .

Isn't land also used similarly ?

No stack em high sell em cheap doesn't quite work with housing in my opinion .

[red flagged]

Housing companies have land banks that's true enough Animal, but mostly to allow themselves continuity of supply rather than in the hope that the land value will increase. They don't usually trade off land to other (rival) developers. Estates managers try and forward plan to allow themselves up to 5 years to get a development through the planning process.
Additionally land costs money ! I know you know this ! my point being that there's a cash-flow limit to the amount of time a company can have it's capital held up in land it's gaining no return from.

Increasing numbers of immigrants to our islands have contributed to the housing crisis, not saying it's the only factor just one we shouldn't ignore.
As with the so called crisis in the health service, we need to get to the root causes and address those, throwing borrowed money at it just won't get us anywhere.