By Graham Vanbergen: – The UK is grappling with a severe housing crisis that has progressively worsened over the past few decades. The crisis, characterized by skyrocketing property prices, escalating rental costs, and a significant shortage of affordable homes, has its roots in policy decisions and economic shifts dating back to the late 20th century.

Origins of the Crisis

The housing crisis in Britain can be traced back to several key factors:

1. Deregulation and Market Liberalization: In the 1980s, under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the UK saw significant deregulation and market liberalization. The introduction of the “Right to Buy” scheme in 1980 allowed council housing tenants to purchase their homes at discounted rates. While this policy increased homeownership, it also depleted the stock of social housing without adequate replacement.
2. Planning Restrictions: Stringent planning regulations have constrained the supply of new housing. The Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 and subsequent amendments have made it challenging to build new homes, especially in high-demand areas.
3. Population Growth: The UK’s population has grown steadily, fueled by natural increases and immigration. This demographic pressure has heightened the demand for housing, particularly in urban areas.
4. Single/parent home occupancy: The number of homes with single-person or single-parent occupancy has increased significantly. In the decade from 2011 to 2021, single-person households increased by 600,000, and single-parent households went up by just over 1 million. That is nearly 6 per cent of all households in the space of just ten years – and that number continues to rise.
5. Investment in Property: The housing market has become a popular avenue for investment, both domestically and internationally. This has led to property prices being driven up by speculative buying, making homes less affordable for average Britons.

Regional Disparities

While the housing crisis is a nationwide issue, some regions are more severely affected than others:

• London and the South East: These regions face the most acute shortages and highest prices. The capital’s global city status attracts both businesses and wealthy investors, inflating property values far beyond what local incomes can support.
• South West and East of England: These areas also experience high demand and limited housing supply, leading to significant affordability issues.
• Northern Cities: While some cities in the North, like Manchester and Leeds, are experiencing rapid growth and increasing housing pressures, they generally remain more affordable than the South.

Demographics Most Affected

The housing crisis impacts various demographic groups, but some are hit harder than others:

• Young Adults: Millennials and Generation Z face the most significant challenges. High property prices and rental costs make homeownership a distant dream for many young people, resulting in a generation often referred to as “Generation Rent.”
• Low-Income Households: Those on lower incomes struggle the most with housing costs. The shortage of social housing means many are forced into the private rental market, where they spend a disproportionate amount of their income on rent.
• Families: Young families looking to buy their first home find it increasingly difficult to secure affordable housing, particularly in areas with good schools and amenities.

 

The housing crisis in Britain is a complex issue rooted in historical and ideologically based policy decisions along with some economic changes. Solving it will require coordinated efforts from the government, private sector, and communities to ensure that affordable housing is accessible to all.

The path forward requires a multi-faceted approach and will inevitably include the obvious lines of increased private, social and affordable housing supply. Concentrating on affordable housing as the spearhead of any programme to solve this social inequity is a must. Significant investment in social housing is just as important to provide secure and affordable options for low-income families. Supporting first-time buyers, not with market interventions like save-to-buy (that only increases property prices) but fully regulated shared ownership schemes.

Other obvious issues to solve are reforming the planning system and building a number of new cities where housing supply is needed. Milton Keynes is a perfect model of how to get this right.

One area that does need more perspective than political knee-jerks is the rental market. Rents are escalating because landlords are not only selling up, but they are no longer buying as the overall system becomes more hostile towards buy-to-let. That situation is being made worse by bringing in more regulations that include being unable to evict anti-social tenants or tenants in serious debt (without court orders that take an average of one year to achieve), allowing pets (especially dogs in flats/apartments) and more. Increased capital gains tax may be seen as a good thing, but as mortgage interest and many maintenance issues (such as replacing a boiler) can no longer be claimed as an expense in that year, there is no financial incentive to rent a property.