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Why is Housing the most Important Issue Facing London?
New Labour coined the Mantra “Education Education, Education” , relying on the concept that a new generation of educated citizens would vitalise an economy and profit our way to wealth. Yet if those children do not have a decent place to live, the ability to sit quietly and read or do their homework away from their siblings, they will continue to lag behind their more affluent schoolmates. If teenagers do not have a decent place to live, they are more likely to be on the streets when they should be at home, potentially being drawn into gangs and anti-social behaviour. If parents and children do not have a decent place to live, they are more likely to suffer health inequalities. If adults do not have a decent place to live, they are more likely to say, “What has society done for us?” “Why should we obey the law, pay taxes, vote in elections?”
I’m lucky, I am a property professional with a commercial line in finance and a solid Pimlico base of property to secure future property investment. have a decent home. My daughter wants to buy a London Flat, but as a qualified teacher and head of literacy in a major comprehensive she cannot raise the deposit and loan necessary to compete with investors, mainly from overseas, looking for a bargain in a difficult market. She can probably get a small mortgage cannot afford the large deposit now demanded by banks – not on a teacher’s salary!
The media are talking about a generation that will not be able to afford to buy their own homes. First time buyers are frozen out of the housing market while investors ensure London property prices continue to rise. That’s why housing is the priority for the Government, Local Authorities, and the Mayor of London.
There is a lot of land under the Mayor’s control, mainly Transport for London land that can be used to build such homes. With the most expensive element of building in London, the land, available to developers at little or no cost, even commercial investors, could still make their profits and give Londoners decent homes at genuinely affordable rents.
The dream of a property-owning democracy is a good one but investors will always distort the London market and most Londoners simply cannot afford to buy. That means the priority must be to build decent, genuinely affordable homes for rent. Not creating sink estates exclusively for those on the lowest incomes, but building developments where young professionals live alongside those unable to work – in vibrant, mixed communities. And if people are happy to live in these homes, maybe that could take some of the heat out of both the rental and homes for sale markets in London.
