UK Migration has to stop
#61
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Re: UK Migration has to stop
plus more progressive property taxes, but then we aren't looking at that under the present administration, in fact on the contrary, since one's residence, no matter what value, might soon be removed from inheritance tax...ation.
#62
Re: UK Migration has to stop
So, if the people who bought their house under right to buy sold their house back to the council, then the council could reduce the waiting lists by renting it out to others. Brilliant !!. Now where do the people who sold their house back to the council live?
If the population increases by 'x' then the housing stock has to increase pro rata. It hasn't, and to go all the way back to the Thatcher years as your primary excuse for the housing crisis is way too simplistic.
If the population increases by 'x' then the housing stock has to increase pro rata. It hasn't, and to go all the way back to the Thatcher years as your primary excuse for the housing crisis is way too simplistic.
#63
Re: UK Migration has to stop
Agreed. The housing crisis has been created entirely by Thatcher's housing policies. When she came to power there was no housing shortage and enough houses were being built each year to cope with additional demand. Since she came to power, the supply of new houses has never met demand, and the crisis has been building year by year.
It has almost nothing to do with immigration. The areas of the country where there are housing shortages do not correlate to the areas where there are large immigration populations. The possible exception is London, but to suggest that immigration is bad for London is to fundamentally misunderstand how the city functions.
It has almost nothing to do with immigration. The areas of the country where there are housing shortages do not correlate to the areas where there are large immigration populations. The possible exception is London, but to suggest that immigration is bad for London is to fundamentally misunderstand how the city functions.
Trying to get my son back into a local good school is near impossible. High immigration? Not in these areas...it's purely due to government selling off land to private builders building more family homes placing even more demand on already stretched services.
They are still trying to do it with one of the schools in my preferred location but this time with the actual school playgrounds. Thankfully the parents have successfully boycotted it for the time being.
Nothing to do with immigration..
#64
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Re: UK Migration has to stop
It is you who is being simplistic. The effect of Thatcher's 'reforms' was that new council house building, which had been tens of thousands annually, dried up to a trickle. The private sector failed to compensate with commensurate growth (a failure of Thatcher's scheme that was apparent right from the start).
So let's be simplistic. Too many people, not enough housing. Simples.
#65
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Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 862
Re: UK Migration has to stop
Fantastic!! I read this thread title and wondered if I was going to read post after post of 'blame it on the migrants'.
Gawd what a relief! It becomes tedious to make them the whipping boys.
...............and it was Thatcher who destroyed affordable rentals, as she destroyed so many other things, and instilled the value of greed and self interest.
Pleasant woman. May she RIP's.
Gawd what a relief! It becomes tedious to make them the whipping boys.
...............and it was Thatcher who destroyed affordable rentals, as she destroyed so many other things, and instilled the value of greed and self interest.
Pleasant woman. May she RIP's.
#66
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Re: UK Migration has to stop
It is you who is being simplistic. The effect of Thatcher's 'reforms' was that new council house building, which had been tens of thousands annually, dried up to a trickle. The private sector failed to compensate with commensurate growth (a failure of Thatcher's scheme that was apparent right from the start).
#67
Re: UK Migration has to stop
25 years of Conservative, Labour and Coalition governments have failed to build anything like the number of houses - whether private or social - to keep up with demand. NIMBYism and treating your home as a retirement fund has had a far greater ill effect than Thatcher by this stage.
#68
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Re: UK Migration has to stop
She left office 25 years ago. Get over it. Since then we've had, Tory, labour and coalition governments who haven't made any attempt to reverse the policy. It's those same governments that have encouraged unstainable immigration. To say that there is less social housing and not admit that encouraging more people into the country, people who probably would need that type of housing to get on their feet, is not adding to the housing crisis, defies belief.
Sort the infrastructure out first, or at least have ongoing plans to do so, before implementing a SENSIBLE controlled immigration policy.
(posted before I saw Brit in Paris post - sorry )
Sort the infrastructure out first, or at least have ongoing plans to do so, before implementing a SENSIBLE controlled immigration policy.
(posted before I saw Brit in Paris post - sorry )
Last edited by Bud the Wiser; Jun 15th 2015 at 6:44 pm.
#69
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Re: UK Migration has to stop
25 years of Conservative, Labour and Coalition governments have failed to build anything like the number of houses - whether private or social - to keep up with demand. NIMBYism and treating your home as a retirement fund has had a far greater ill effect than Thatcher by this stage.
And now we have a government whose first time buyer schemes will merely do the same thing absent supply side policies. In fact, if they go ahead with giving renters of housing association properties the right to buy, they will reduce supply even more.
#70
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Re: UK Migration has to stop
Thatcher did one thing right and that was to remove the deductibility of mortgage interest, a deduction that inevitably had pushed up house prices in the face of other policies that reduced the supply of new housing.
And now we have a government whose first time buyer schemes will merely do the same thing absent supply side policies. In fact, if they go ahead with giving renters of housing association properties the right to buy, they will reduce supply even more.
And now we have a government whose first time buyer schemes will merely do the same thing absent supply side policies. In fact, if they go ahead with giving renters of housing association properties the right to buy, they will reduce supply even more.
#71
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Re: UK Migration has to stop
And right-to-buy might reduce incentives to build anew, given the likelihood that new property will be sold off on the cheap. In the 1980s new council builds “pretty much disappeared” after right-to-buy was introduced, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a think-tank. Housing associations claim that being forced to sell assets under the Tory plan will blunt their incentives to build, too.
The right to buy… votes | The Economist
Last edited by Giantaxe; Jun 15th 2015 at 7:33 pm.
#72
Re: UK Migration has to stop
It will reduce the supply of 'affordable' housing, causing further housing grief for those who cannot afford market rates.
#73
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Re: UK Migration has to stop
As for housing associations not being able or willing to invest in more housing because of right to buy, I don't know. It would be interesting to see a detailed pros and cons analysis to see what ROI would be the best option for further investment.
Granted Thatcher should have allowed councils to be able to invest a larger percentage from the original right to buy policy, however, we've drifted far away from the OPs post.
If you accepted that their has been an 'affordable' housing crisis since the Thatcher era, then it does not make any sense to add to the 'housing grief' by increasing the population. Sure they might add to the economy, sure ( I hope ) one day the infrastructure will catch up, but for now many, many people will suffer due to inadequate forethought.
I'd talk about transportation overcrowding, but I'm sure Beeching would be the scapegoat.
#74
Re: UK Migration has to stop
The point about affordable housing is that it is a layer of accessible housing for those that are on low income. A good example would be a young family on low income who cannot afford or qualify for a mortgage, they live in the affordable housing for several years until the income progression (or other circumstances) are such that they are able to purchase a property. At that point they affordable housing becomes vacant again and available to another family of reduced means. Granted that some people never have the means to move on, but that is all the more the case for expanding supply rather than reducing it.
#75
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Re: UK Migration has to stop
The point about affordable housing is that it is a layer of accessible housing for those that are on low income. A good example would be a young family on low income who cannot afford or qualify for a mortgage, they live in the affordable housing for several years until the income progression (or other circumstances) are such that they are able to purchase a property. At that point they affordable housing becomes vacant again and available to another family of reduced means. Granted that some people never have the means to move on, but that is all the more the case for expanding supply rather than reducing it.
I understand the point about affordable housing.