This morning's press were reporting analysis carried out on behalf of the National Housing Federation (a social housing pressure group) that unless the government's promised 70,000 new social homes are built a year prices could rise by 40% by 2012, (the average home would cost £393,000) in Southern England.
Now, I strongly support the idea we need new social housing, but where it is needed and I do not think that central Government is best placed to tell us where. One key fact that often appears to be overlooked in this debate is that we are not looking at one housing market, but many - one bedroom flats are not likely to be appropriate in rural farmland, nor 5 bed houses in city centres.
Not all homes are the same and not all areas need the same mix of homes. But the effect of the Government's central planning (of the type the Soviet Union used to employ) has been to define targets for local areas. This is a a highly bureaucratic and undemocratic process. Please Mr Brown give power to local people to determine what is needed in their communities.
While on the housing topic, as of last Wednesday HIPS, are now mandatory for four bedroom houses. I doubt there can be many more over engineered, expensive, ineffective and bureaucratic solutions than this.
They
1 will not tackle gazumping
2 will destabilise the housing market
3 are not comprehensive enough to be trusted by buyers
4 are gold plating an EU regulation
5 are avoidable by clever marketing ( claiming you have 3 bedrooms plus a study/spare room)
6 are a way for Government to revalue Council Tax liability by stealth.
