\n<\/p>\n
John Harris\u2019s article on poverty and housing in the UK\u2019s hinterlands is both moving and a vital element of the combined analytical framework that describes the situation in modern Britain (A waiting list of thousands, and just five new homes for social rent: this city shows the depth of Britain\u2019s housing crisis, 19 October).<\/p>\n
Harris notes, though, that \u201cOn the upside, the renters\u2019 rights bill \u2026 is about to receive royal assent\u201d. I appreciate the sentiment, but it misses two vital points. First, does anyone believe that a bill imagined by the previous Tory government and written by this current Labour one will be effectively worded and enforced? This would require courage and competence.<\/p>\n
Second, and more importantly, the new bill actively alienates landlords rather than viewing them as partners in a process of reciprocal and mutual need. Yes, some are overseas investors, but many are not, and are perhaps safeguarding against inadequate pensions despite having worked for decades in one of the world\u2019s largest\u00a0economies.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, there is capital out there for responsible low-level investors to build affordable housing which can be rented via councils. Such an undertaking would require political skill to implement, but it might help if the\u00a0Guardian promoted such solutions rather than penalising one side by supporting the other. I never forget being eight months\u00a0pregnant and having to live\u00a0in an unheated former classroom in a closed school. Now two of my children are in their 40s\u00a0and still homeless, priced out of the housing market and living on\u00a0narrowboats.<\/p>\n We are all dismayed at the rents and unaffordable house prices in this city, but do not want one of the very things that keeps us mentally and physically healthy \u2013 the green belt \u2013 to be covered over. Most housing being built now on the green belt is not affordable and very little is social housing. Our Labour council has sold off many council properties aimed at single occupation near the city centre. As in many cities, there are lots of empty shops and offices.<\/p>\n Rather than building housing that is unaffordable to most, the council should oversee and encourage imaginative conversion of these buildings in city centres, where there are already community resources. Homes are crucial for wellbeing, as are communities.<\/p>\n The housing market should not just be left to developers and shareholder profiteers. It is difficult to imagine a Labour government actively seeking to intensify the housing crisis, yet that is exactly what it is doing. As John Harris points out, a large proportion of new housing in Liverpool is being bought by foreign investors to rent to locals. There are plans to let developers in London reduce the proportion of affordable housing from 35% to 20%.<\/p>\n A home is generally regarded as affordable if it costs less than 3.5\u00a0times annual income. But house prices are 7.7 times the average income in England, and up to 11\u00a0times in London.<\/p>\n Even in the unlikely event that the government delivers 1.5m homes, virtually none of them will be genuinely affordable, making even private rental unaffordable. The only way forward is to dramatically increase the provision\u00a0of social and not-for-profit housing tenures. Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/em><\/strong>email<\/em><\/strong> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/em><\/strong>letters<\/em><\/strong> section.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" John Harris\u2019s article on poverty and housing in the UK\u2019s hinterlands is both moving and a vital element of the combined analytical framework that describes the situation in modern Britain (A waiting list of thousands, and just five new homes for social rent: this city shows the depth of Britain\u2019s housing crisis, 19 October). Harris<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[187,1264,7040],"class_list":{"0":"post-29922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-social-issues","8":"tag-crisis","9":"tag-housing","10":"tag-solutions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Simon Sheridan<\/strong>
London<\/em><\/p>\n
Nuala Young<\/strong>
Oxford<\/em><\/p>\n
Geoffrey Payne<\/strong>
Author of Somewhere to Live<\/em><\/p>\n