You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
From the archive - housing associations to rescue the housing market
Inside Housing looks back at what was happening in the sector 10, 20 and 30 years ago
30 years ago
Thirty years ago, the Conservative government was mulling over plans to deregulate the private rented sector – and a survey revealed that private landlords were already planning 20% rent hikes in response.
Safeland commissioned the research, which was based on interviews with 144 estate agents, landlords and newspapers. In the cheaper part of the market, where rents were then £100 to £250 a week, more than half of the landlords expected to raise rents, with 7% to increase rents by more than 50%.
Safeland argued though that regulation of the rental market was causing landlords to prefer letting to short-term tenants and companies.
Larry Lipman, managing director of Safeland, said: “The simple fact is that landlords are increasingly reluctant to rent homes to the people who need them most.”
Picture: Getty
20 years ago
The subject of town planning took the front page 20 years ago, after a controversial meeting of planners from the South East and London recommended cutting the region’s housing provision targets for the next two decades.
Serplan – the South East regional planning conference – argued that lack of funding to build social housing meant the number of homes constructed should be cut from 1.1 million to 875,000. This would undercut central government’s housebuilding targets.
The proposals drew ire from across the housing sector. The National Housing Federation’s Alastair Jackson said: “This is contrary to everybody’s policy objectives.” The Town and Country Planning Association said it ignored the “yawning gap” of housing need.
Graeme Bell, director of the association, said: “The biggest losers will be those most in need
of housing.”
Huw Morris, then-news editor of Inside Housing, predicted: “We can look forward to increased homelessness, greater overcrowding and more and more households living in miserable conditions.”
10 years ago
Housing associations were to come to the rescue of the housing market, Inside Housing reported on its front page.
It was the height of the credit crunch, and then-prime minister Gordon Brown pumped £1bn into the housing market in an emergency measure. This included £200m for housing associations to buy out or assist struggling homeowners, £300m for shared equity, and £400m to fund construction of 5,500 social rent homes over 18 months.
The Treasury, meanwhile, temporarily raised the threshold for paying stamp duty to stimulate the private market.
However, critics such as the Council of Mortgage Lenders and Shelter said the measures would not go far enough.
