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As first time buyers struggle to find a home that they can afford, is the Government doing all it can to ensure that more new homes are being built? Ginetta Vedrickas looks at the problem Why aren’t more new homes being built?
GET LONDON BUILDING As new build numbers fall and house prices in the capital are prohibitive for many trying to get on the property ladder, grassroots campaign Britain Remade has produced a report, Get London Building , which details plans to solve London’s housing crisis by building almost 900,000 new energy-efficient homes.The report points out that today it takes a couple in the capital, earning a normal income, 30 years to save a deposit for the average property, up from just four years in the mid-1990s. The report adds that, right across the city, house prices have risen to 12.5 times the average income and, in many boroughs, such as Hackney, Haringey, and Islington, prices are now 15 times the average income. Warning that young Londoners have few options because housing supply has not kept up with demand, Britain Remade’s founder and campaign director, Sam Richards, says London’s housing market is broken. “Right now, young people working good jobs face the prospect of never being able to own their own home. Housing in London doesn’t have to be unaffordable. It is a choice. For too long, politicians have chosen not to build enough homes to meet demand.The only way to fix this is to build more homes.” Richards says that their report is a “blueprint for City Hall to deliver the affordable homes Londoners desperately need” and it contains multiple suggestions, from transforming the capital’s post- war estates to provide warmer and bigger homes for existing residents to better using land across the city. Calling his organisation a “pro- growth campaign group”, he calls on London’s mayor to build homes Londoners need by regenerating estates, building in the best-connected places and using land better by building homes on publicly owned golf courses and industrial sites. “Too many Londoners live in
capital’s extreme housing shortage and cut council housing waiting lists, but it will also save money and help the country go green. If all new estates are built to the highest energy efficiency standards, the average council tenant would save almost £800 a year in lower gas and electric bills.” Along with estate renewal, Britain Remade also urges the mayor to build more homes in London’s best-connected areas, a move that could add 38,000 homes each year, cut congestion, and reduce emissions. Around two-thirds of London’s industrial land is protected by the London Plan, housebuilding on it is banned, and a council’s ability to release land next to industrial sites is restricted. “Using London’s land better can unlock 325,000 good homes within walking distance of public transport,
post-war social housing that is cold, damp, and crowded. Estate renewal not only tackles these scourges, but also delivers the extra housing London desperately needs.” The report points out that this is feasible because the capital’s post-war estates were built at densities far lower than many of London’s best-loved historic neighbourhoods.The report also notes that new homes currently sell for four times their construction costs, which could provide the funds needed to build warmer and larger homes for existing council tenants and increase social housing stock. Rebuilding London’s estates at modest densities could deliver over 530,000 extra new homes on top of the 540,000 rebuilt and upgraded social homes, explains Richards. “Not only will regenerating London’s estates tackle the
124 First Time Buyer June/July 2024
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