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One of the key issues that Labour will need to resolve is how to match their aspirations to expand the construction of (social) housing with the geographical and demographic 'housing need'... but as Alex Lord (ULiverpool) notes, currently housing need is a crude & undifferentiated metric to work from.
Really assessing & then targeting a more nuanced depiction of housing need, should help Angela Rayner deliver on her promise(s) & get the right dwellings built!
#housing
https://theconversation.com/no-government-in-half-a-century-has-built-300-000-homes-every-year-but-thats-what-labour-wants-to-do-now-236442
@ChrisMayLA6 so long as she doesn't let the big builders convince her that high quality housing is far too expensive to build.
It adds very little to the cost of a building about £1k to make it reach passivhus standard, so compared to the builders profit a flea bite.
But instead social housing becomes cheap for the poor to live in. So adds to the local economy as the poor spend most of their income.
There is so much more that should be done https://mastodon.social/@urlyman/112877569716857593
I *think* I recall there was some talk on both, 1. Crack down on multiple home ownership &
2. Crack down on vacant property at some point in the past, but as yet nothing concrete being suggested... your last point on environmental standards is interesting - see also @epistatacadam - not least of all for a small investment, one might see some wider useful economic effects
nothing concrete while pouring concrete https://mastodon.social/@urlyman/112749947582347290
@ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam plans in #YorkshireDales to double #CouncilTax on empty properties and second homes .. not sure it will make any difference but may free up some of these for longer term lets. https://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/ydnpa-supports-second-homes-council-tax-premium/
@stuffjolikes @ChrisMayLA6 @epistatacadam
As with an exponentially rising frequent flyer tax for flying, *exponentially* rising taxation for multiple home ownership would be a start. Council tax is but one lever
@urlyman @stuffjolikes @ChrisMayLA6 why only "exponentially rising", hyperbolically rising would effectively ban second homes in a finite time. Not sure how the crown and government (& many MPs) would cope! I think the monarch has more than two homes. And PM certainly does.
@stuffjolikes @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam
I think all UK Councils should double the Council Tax on 2nd Homes with any luck the owners will sell up and free up some homes for the locals.
Newby here, Following you, any chance of a Follow back?
@ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam most vacant property is in probate or owned by people in long-term care. A mechanism for dealing with the remainder would be useful however there is already an empty homes premium in the Council Tax system. (UK)
@Soupdragon interesting. Thanks. However council tax is but one lever.
e.g. Stamp duty calibrated to housing demand within a local authority might unlock housing stock. If we’re worried about ‘unfairness’ it could be phased in so people have time to sell up before the hit. Which would lower prices.
But being unfair on people who already have too much is better than being unfair on people who have too little
@ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam it would also be useful to be able to liquidate properties in long-term probate. When you have a semi that hasn't been maintained for ten years it can become a problem due to vandalism, infestation, deterioration etc.
@Soupdragon @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam I think you mean housing property. It would be interesting to see a crackdown on empty *commercial* property, because there's always too much of that and converting some of it into living space would solve a lot of problems.
@anarchic_teapot @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam yes sorry. I deal with domestic/housing property only
@Soupdragon @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam Good lord, don't apologise. It's natural* that you'd think above all of your specific sector.
*I have no idea why autocorrect suggested "narwhal" here.
@anarchic_teapot @Soupdragon @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam Since the rules were changed so that empty business property attracted rates empty business property has basically vanished in Wales. Unfortunately that's because every square meter of unused space is rented out for free or a pound to a charity, art collective, hackspace or similar. Been great for those groups but not the original goal.
A lot of office space is also very hard to convert for light and structural reasons.
@etchedpixels @Soupdragon @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam
Well, that's good news. However, the real problem is that commercial and industrial buildings aren't built to anything like the same standards as housing, starting with insulation. I've spent too many years in offices where you freeze in winter and bake in summer. Don't get me started on abominations like the Shard.
@anarchic_teapot @Soupdragon @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam Light is the biggest problem in many cases. A lot of modern stuff is big open spaces that only work because they are open and light propagates deep into the building through all those big windows. When you start trying to add internal walls you've got plenty of insulation options but keeping sufficient light is hard.
@etchedpixels
In my experience, a lot of them supplement with artificial lighting anyway, just to show there's someone there <insert rant here>. (@Soupdragon @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam
@anarchic_teapot @Soupdragon @urlyman @epistatacadam
In the past in my timeline we've discussed re-purposing commercial property to residential, and the consensus was while possible, not as easy or as cheap as people often think - which is not to say it shouldn't be done, but it is not a 'cheap fix' (not that I am suggesting you thought it was)
@ChrisMayLA6 @anarchic_teapot @urlyman @epistatacadam a lot depends on the building. Georgian shop units can convert quite nicely. A 70s office block or a 90s carpet showroom is not so good. Costs may vary.
@Soupdragon @anarchic_teapot @urlyman @epistatacadam
Yes, costs (and difficulty) may vary... which is not to say it doesn't work in specific circumstances, just that the general invocation of commercial conversion is a little too general as a policy aim
@ChrisMayLA6 @Soupdragon @urlyman @epistatacadam Yup <hard side-eye at so-called "business parks", although the one near me does also have shops and restaurants>
@Soupdragon @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam There have been mechanisms for dealing with empty homes for years (CPO EDMO, section 17 etc). There's no money to use them is the problem there.
@ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam We've had penalties on empty and 2nd homes for a while in Wales. It has gotten housing back into circulation or sold. 2nd homes has been trickier. When the penalties came in everyone's 2nd home turned business. When that gap was plugged some couples started each claiming one house was their primary home and asking for 1 person discounts
The third accidental house hogger though is property rich pensioners with no easy way out of big houses they can't maintain.
@etchedpixels penalties of what nature/structure?
@urlyman @ChrisMayLA6 @epistatacadam Empty and second homes pay council tax multipliers. There are also rules to stop you turning it into fake never rented airbnb and other tricks. The most recent attempt to crack down is centred around making 2nd home a planning change of use.
In some pressure spots other things are also being done, like requiring the property can only be the primary residence and cannot be let as a restrictive covenant placed on some new builds
@urlyman @epistatacadam @ChrisMayLA6 I would add to that list -- overhaul the Right to Buy scheme so there's no discount apart from rent paid to date, and the money raised can (only?) be used to build more social housing.
Great point on the positive effect on 'effective demand' of better housing at lower prices for the poor....
@ChrisMayLA6 the fascinating thing is if you raise the standard for the poorest in society, everyone gains, and in this case our energy consumption would fall, with the benefits for the globe and perhaps our population too!
definitely how Keynes saw it....