Phineas is very clever
Two-thirds of workers in England can’t afford private rent. If that’s not a crisis, what is?
We agree, obviously. And yet:
Limited land, capacity in the development sector and the UK’s legally binding carbon budgets mean that, without radically more sustainable construction practices, there’s a finite number of new homes the country can realistically build each year. Solving the housing crisis, therefore, is a question of priorities: will allowing the market to build as it pleases bring down prices most quickly, or should Britain be more strategic in specifying what kind of new homes we commission in 2025 and beyond?
We do not have limited land. We have a limited number of planning permissions. That we can change with a stroke of a pen - Chuck III’s signature of the blowing up - kablooie - of the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 and successors. For example. Legally binding on carbon can be similarly changed, by a change in the law.
Capacity is indeed more difficult but what do we think increases capacity better? Bureaucrats planning things in offices or letting the market rip red in tooth and claw. And if you think it’s the first then you are Professor Mazzucato and we claim our £5.
The social rental sector is not just more affordable, but superior to privately renting in other ways, too
Peons living at the wishes of the State is better than a free people, eh?
Phineas is indeed very clever but there’s such a thing as being too clever by half. The problems in British housing are caused by the nationalisation of permission to build that 78 years ago. Abolish that and while the transition will take time, obviously, it will actually solve the issue.
Castles for all, that’s the British solution to homes.
Tim Worstall