Further Tory Housing Failure

[spathiphyllum]

It's a shame, with the farce that is brexit, that the conservative government have put almost everything else on the back burner.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/starter-homes-housing-first-time-buyers-national-audit-office-report-a9185371.html

[Ken4155]

Channel 4 news reported on this the other night. It is, when you think of it, quite scandalous. Normally when a government misses a target (this was one of Cameron's) it's perhaps by a few thousand. To not build one single starter home beggars belief. It serves as a timely reminder not to take all the pre-election promises as set in stone - whoever makes them.

[spathiphyllum]

Apparently the millions of tax payers money has been used elsewhere, and no one is sure where.

Yes, not one single home, despite preparations (which must of cost a bomb)

[spathiphyllum]

The first paragraph from the article.

"The government has failed to build any of its promised “starter homes” despite having set aside more than £2bn for the project, the government watchdog has revealed."

[pixie374]

The Independent won't let me read it with an adblocker. While we need cheaper homes... I would rather do something about the current prices somehow, than build and build and build. They will all go up in price. Not sure what the answer is though!

[spathiphyllum]

Alternative link?

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-7650477/Ministers-failed-deliver-promised-new-starter-homes-says-watchdog.html

[pixie374]

Thanks spath x that helps. I am just not convinced that building 200,000 new homes and selling them cheaply, is necessarily a long- term answer. It means people can buy houses in areas they maybe couldn't otherwise afford. But of course, as soon as they move in, the value will shoot up for the next buyers, and we have to continually do the same again. Maybe we should get more into renting than buying, like most of Europe. At least the competition might keep the prices more accessible.

[spathiphyllum]

Pixie having a issue with the scheme itself is fine. But you an't condone the torys just not keeping to their word, and letting hundreds of thousands of pounds from tax payers go to waste or to thin air.

[spathiphyllum]

Pixie I assume you already own a home. It's very hard for first time buyers in this day and age.

[pixie374]

It's almost impossible, spath. I do sympathise, I have 4 children who are now young adults and cannot see how they will ever be able to buy a home in this area. Tbh, the only reason my partner and I could, was because we were both left some money.
However, we need to look ahead too... and I can't see it is good to continually build more and more either, or where will it stop? I think we need a different long-term plan somehow.

[hereIam]

I think a lot of things have been put on the back burner because of Brexit and will continue to do so!

[pixie374]

Where did it actually go? I don't know if it was "wasted" or not.

[spathiphyllum]

We don't stop. We start to build upwards, like japan.

[spathiphyllum]

Funding which had been earmarked for the scheme has instead been spent on acquiring and preparing brownfield sites for housing more generally

[pixie374]

Sounds a nightmare. Maybe we need to do something about the over-po

[retrocop]

We already do.Ever been to London? Heard of Grenfell? Always a case of NIMBY. Have you got many High Rise blocks around your neck of the woods Spath ?

[pixie374]

Sorry... I seem to be automatically submitting every time someone texts me somehow!
Maybe we need to do something about the over-population first, then. My oldest son moved to Wales, as that was the only place he could afford to buy. But then, that causes other problems, in that when families need babysitters, care for elderly parents, general support etc, it is harder when relatives are so much further away.

[spathiphyllum]

"Have you got many High Rise blocks around your neck of the woods Spath ?"

No not really, the houses around my ends are rather expensive. but there is a couple in stoke.

[spathiphyllum]

"Maybe we need to do something about the over-population first, then."

Three options -
-Forced contraceptives
-a cull
- Relaxed health and safety laws so natural selection can pave the way.

[retrocop]

I recall two survivors of Grenfell were a young Italian couple who spoke little English and were unemployed. They had been in the UK several months.An enclave of Moroccans occupied the ground and lower floors of Grenfell. When HMQ visited the survivors she had to talk about the ordeal through an interpreter. Multiply that by a few thousand blocks of flats and we will soon learn why we have a housing shortage for our own children.
g

[hereIam]

I'm glad they are using brownfield sites and not destroying more natural habitats for wildlife.