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Morning Briefing: housing crisis has divided the young into ‘haves and have-nots’
Young people in the UK have been divided into “haves” and “have-nots” by the housing crisis, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
In an article for the BBC today, Jonathan Cribb, Senior Research Economist at IFS, says housing inequality has created a divide between richer and poorer younger adults.
Using detailed statistics, he shows how the proportion of middle-earners aged 25 to 34 who own their own home has plummeted 27% over the past 20 years.
Elsewhere, yet another group of residents living in a tower block affected by the cladding crisis are facing huge fees to make their homes safe.
Leaseholders in the NV Buildings in Salford, which was built by Carillion, are calling on the scheme’s original developer Countryside to meet the cost of removing unsafe cladding, Construction News reports.
In related news, housing maintenance contractor Mears Group has blamed an 8% dip in profits in the first half of the year on the Grenfell Tower disaster, according to The Times.
The firm said local authorities had been diverting funds towards fire safety work and security rather than maintenance and refurbishment.
And per New Civil Engineer, the Royal Institute of British Architects has repeated its calls for a blanket ban on all combustible materials in its evidence to the government’s consultation on prohibiting flammable materials from being used on the outside of high rises.
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Elsewhere, Architects’ Journal reports that London mayor Sadiq Khan has used his planning powers to call in two planning applications – which together propose more than 1,000 homes – after they were rejected by Greenwich Council.
In Scotland, Scottish Labour has announced a pledge to build at least 12,000 homes for social rent per year, according to Scottish Housing News.
And Newcastle City Council is preparing to demolish two tower blocks as part of a major regeneration project for the Walker area of the city, Chronicle Live reports.
Separately, Bob Ward, deputy chair at the London Climate Change Partnership, has written a piece for The Guardian warning of the dangers of heat deaths in new build houses, and calls for changes to planning regulations to prevent overheating.
There is also more reaction this morning to the Social Housing Green Paper, published yesterday by the government.
Inside Housing has already run extensive coverage of the green paper.
The keenest takes include the Red Brick blog’s piece, which questions whether the green paper lives up to its initial promise.
An article in the Financial Times also quotes some senior figures from the housing sector about their views on the green paper.
The Conversation website also runs a piece by Jo Richardson, professor of housing and social research at De Montfort University, which does a good job of putting the green paper in context.
And another academic, Christine Whitehead, professor emeritus in housing economics at London School of Economics, writes an article on the National Institute of Economic and Social Research website about why housing policy always seems so ineffective.
Finally, the letters page from The Guardian yesterday is worth a look, with all of its entries housing related.
On social media
Tories and Labour on @BBCNewsnight agreeing that we need more social housing...
— Anne Duffield (@AnneDuffield1)
Maybe one day we will get some (and more than we sell under the Right to Buy).Tories and Labour on @BBCNewsnight agreeing that we need more social housing...
— Anne Duffield (@AnneDuffield1) August 14, 2018
Maybe one day we will get some (and more than we sell under the Right to Buy).
1x New Strategy on rough sleeping & #homelessness
— Neil Goodrich (@NGoodrichHsg)
1x #SocialHousingGreenPaper
Zero new/extra cash for #UKHousing issues.
You don’t solve social policy issues with warm words & fuzzy feelings. You solve them with cash. Tiresomely predictable.1x New Strategy on rough sleeping & #homelessness
— Neil Goodrich (@NGoodrichHsg) August 15, 2018
1x #SocialHousingGreenPaper
Zero new/extra cash for #UKHousing issues.
You don't solve social policy issues with warm words & fuzzy feelings. You solve them with cash. Tiresomely predictable.
The big issues that impact the regeneration and delivery of social housingSPONSORED ARTICLE
