In the same week the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warns that funding for local councils barely reflects need, Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole has become the latest local authority teetering close to bankruptcy as the entire sector continues to face unprecedented existential questions about its future. It is in this stark context that local communities have never more needed action to tackle the affordability crisis in housing.
My recent experiences trying to find a rental flat- my home- affirm a market that’s been allowed to be broken for far too long. Adverts are published online as fast as they’re removed as prospective tenants snap them up without in-person viewings, with the worst estate agents practising informal gazumping. I’ve seen rental properties with no central heating, one where I was asked if I could move in the very next day, another where a living room two metres by two metres was described unironically as ‘surprisingly spacious’ and another where I was casually told I would have to pay six months’ rent up front.
The reality is that in a largely unregulated market, the homes we need- comfortable, affordable, plentiful, and in the right place- are simply not being delivered. That’s not just affecting those at the very margins, the impact on the ‘just about managing’ is pronounced too- squeezed due to benefit ineligibility they face surging rents- the fastest growth in eight years according to the ONS. The English Housing Survey reports that the proportion of household income spent by renters is not only significantly larger, so is poverty (34%), compared with 12% for owner-occupiers (IFS). Although politicians of all persuasions have talked about how mortgage increases are hitting homeowners, the majority have failed to mention the impact of higher rents on tenants.
A good start would be a robust renters reform law finally on the statute book- banning revenge evictions, increasing notice periods- and fundamentally affording some dignity for the generations trapped in a broken market, compounded by decades of light-touch regulation.
Until 1979 building genuinely affordable homes- council houses, built by local communities- wasn’t politically divisive, yet since 2010 just 1.3 million homes of all types have been built- a direct reason house prices are out of reach for so many. Among my proudest achievements leading Brighton and Hove city council was building 500 council homes in the last three years, in spite of the pandemic. That is an important part of what’s needed but with more than 1.2 million households on existing council waiting lists in England, we need a wholescale devolution of greater Treasury powers and resources to enable councils to build the communities of tomorrow.
Not only do we win housing to keep communities and generations of families together, provided these homes are built to the top sustainability spec, this is one of the essential ways to tackle the climate crisis with thousands of ‘green collar’ jobs while we build our way out of the country’s financial dire straits.
While the debate continues on how we plan for the future, at the Community Communications Partnership we can sustain and enhance the discussion between communities and developers to build the genuinely affordable homes and sustainable communities needed here and now. Get in touch with us on phelim@theccp.net or 020 4538 7200