Select Committee on Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Written Evidence


Memorandum by the Residents' Action Group (AH 05)

1.  THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF AND SCOPE TO PROMOTE GREATER HOME OWNERSHIP

  Having lived in all types of housing, private rented sector, Council Housing, and in occupied homes I recommend that more home ownership in the community will benefit not only to those living in the dwellings but to the greater public at large.

  It has been noticed that in areas of housing dominated by homeowners suffer less vandalism, anti-social behaviour and low level crime, including criminal damage to cars and property. The only exceptions are student ghettos, where absentee landlords rent out to students and other groups of young, mainly single people. These areas suffer damage due to the drunken behaviour of those returning to their homes late at night.

  However, the more people that want to buy homes, the greater pressure on developers to cram more units into the city centres, leading to unacceptable pollution levels and un-neighbourly unhealthy living conditions.

2.  THE EXTENT TO WHICH HOME PURCHASE TACKLES SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INEQUALITIES AND REDUCES POVERTY

  The greater the home ownership ratio the more likely the shift in poverty from social housing tenants and private renters to the home owners who have taken out mortgages of a value far beyond their ability to pay back in their working lifetime. It is therefore necessary reinstate that which used to be call "council housing" so that young couples and single buyers are not forced by economic circumstances to borrow beyond their repayment limits.

  There are not enough housing associations units to relieve the pressure on the market, and forcing those who cannot afford to buy into that market only pushes the poverty problem further into the future, as houses are repossessed and middle aged people are made homeless without a chance to get into the private or social rented sector.

  There will always be inequalities in the housing sectors due to the wage levels and social standing of the persons living in any kind of housing units in any given area.

  The fact is inescapable and needs no further comment.

3.  THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL IMPACT OF CURRENT HOUSE PRICES

  Generally absolutely disastrous and a great concern to everyone in the community. As more and more people lose hope of ever being able to afford to buy a home, they have to live in flatlets or shared houses, known as Houses in Multiple Occupation.

  Vast ghettos of these houses abound in the areas in the city and into the suburbs, owned by absentee landlords who care little for the comfort of their tenants or the slummy appearance of the ghettos, as houses are uncared for and gardens become rat ridden jungles filled with rubbish and unwanted furniture.

  Add to this the numbers of bars and clubs opened to cater for this section of society, which includes thousands of students, and the life for those who bought family homes in the areas which have now become ghettos is absolute hell.

  We suffer sleep privation and stress, shouting and screaming as drunken revellers storm through the streets on their way home. smashing up cars and kicking down front garden walls. On a recent TV programme on binge drinking it was stated that statistics show that as house prices rise, so does binge drinking increase, as young people have no incentive to save for the future.

  Living in such an area I can verify that the greed of landlords to get as many houses as possible ready for the student market during the last fifteen years was the start of the last great increase in the price of homes, and prices are still rising. These landlords offer more than the houses are worth, and the stressed long term residents are willing to sell to flee the unbearable conditions of living in the ghettos, which in turn becomes even worse with more young people crammed into the area.

4.  THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOUSE PRICES AND HOUSING SUPPLY

  The ratio between houses for sale and those sough, after by buyers became unbalanced mainly during the early nineteen nineties as the numbers of students increased. The need for them to have the use of four bedroomed houses where five or six of them could share the facilities meant that in some areas of our cities over 70% of the such house become Houses in Multiple Occupation. The exodus of long standing residents from these noisy and vandalised ghettos increased pressure on the for sale market.

  As a result of the awful lifestyle caused by the bad behaviour of students and other young persons, more people fled to the suburbs or the countryside. These desperate people were willing to pay over the odds for homes in areas where they could lead a decent life, this then encouraged more people to put their houses on the market, fuelling a rush to buy before prices increased and were beyond the means of middle aged buyers. Added to this were factors of a different social problem, the urge of young people to leave their parents homes and set up in their own abodes, as well as competing with newly divorced couples for the dwellings in the lower price brackets. There have never been enough of these types of housing units to satisfy demand, and sellers could name their own price as demand increased.

5.  OTHER FACTORS INFLUENCING THE AFFORDABILITY OF HOUSING FOR SALE INCLUDING CONSTRUCTION METHODS AND FISCAL MEASURE

  Building regulations and strict guidelines by building control and planning have left the public with no choice but to place themselves in lifelong debt to buy a home.

  There seems to be no good reason why we cannot have wooden Scandinavian type homes, many of which are prefabricated built on flat brownfield sites, or even in the countryside if the ground were proven to be safe from flood and unstable conditions due to severe weather changes. The use of such homes, a really low prices would give buyers a choice that they could afford, and the sellers of the traditional brick or granite built homes would be forced to bring their prices down.

6.  THE SCALE OF THE GOVERNMENT'S PLANS TO BOOST HOUSING SUPPLY

  The plans are ambitious and a cause of a great deal of worry to citizens already living in areas where the habitable Rooms per Acre ratio is exceeded in a dangerous and unsatisfactory manner. The sewage systems, drainage of water from gardens and roads is under too much pressure to be able to withstand any more "cramming" in the city brownfield sites, and the spread of housing around the cities filling the strategic gap between them denies citizens the joy of having any countryside views or places where they can go and enjoy leisure activities. Forcing people further out into the countryside leads to environmental problems, with the extra use of traffic on the roads causing pollution.

7.  THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF INCREASING THE SUPPLY OF PRIVATE HOUSING AS OPPOSED TO SUBSIDISED HOUSING

  It is more important to concentrate on the supply of subsidised housing, as the private housing market appears to be booming, with developments going up in so many cramped sites, where elegant Victorian or Edwardian houses once stood, or in back gardens, or any "rabbit hole" that attracts the attention of greedy developers ready to corner a niche in the market. Developers should be made to supply more that the present required ratio of social housing units when they ask for planning permission to put up new estates or blocks of flats.

8.  HOW THE PLANNING SYSTEM SHOULD RESPOND TO THE DEMAND FOR HOUSING FOR SALE

  Actively encourage modernistic, cheaper, prefabricated housing units in tasteful styles to blend in with the more traditional designs of homes already in the area. Allow chalet style bungalows, wooden or metal construction, to be built among low level buildings, and encourage architects willing to encompass these measures by holding seminars to guide them towards the new concepts of housing and bungalow design that would be acceptable to Planning Officers in the future.

9.  THE SCALE OF HOUSING DEVELOPMENT REQUIRED TO INFLUENCE HOUSE PRICES AND THE IMPACT OF PROMOTING SUCH A PROGRAMME ON THE NATURAL AND HISTORICAL ENVIRONMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISION

  No matter how many houses and flats are given planning permission there would be very little impact on the price structure already set by previous housing trends. The need for even more living units will become greater as immigrants from the European Union and developing countries surge to our shores to take advantage of a better lifestyle.

  Already such persons are filling up Houses in Multiple Occupation and if successful in finding lucrative employment will seek larger accommodation for themselves and their families at a later date. Recent press reports of a future energy crisis should be heeded by planners, and current projected numbers of new homes should be culled in order to protect the environment and health of the generations to come as they will be the ones to suffer from ill advised decisions on housing numbers made by the present administration.

10.  THE REGIONAL DISPARITIES IN THE SUPPLY AND DEMAND FOR HOUSING AND HOW THEY CAN BE TACKLED

  Until the Government stop being soft on crime and get control of the appalling situation regarding drug abuse and violence in the cities of the Midlands and the north of England, the urge of people to live in the south will become greater, and house prices there will never be lowered. Although areas around and outside London are subject to high crime statistics people are prepared to put up with that in exchange for the advantage of more employment opportunities and less time spent on commuting. It is sad that so many old town terrace cottages in the Northern cities are being razed to the ground, as the areas become too dangerous for people to live there. It is another sad fact that attempts to upgrade these areas lead to prices for properties becoming out of reach for local people or the lower wage earner. Developers need to be made to contribute to the saving of the older houses in exchange for planning permission to build new homes nearby. The older houses should be subsidised and many available for rent in the social housing sector.





 
previous page contents next page

House of Commons home page Parliament home page House of Lords home page search page enquiries index

© Parliamentary copyright 2006
Prepared 20 March 2006