Had a quick read as I was only interested in seeing what Theresa May would say about the housing crisis: " I will take personal charge of the government’s response" ......... ...... ****. Really nothings changed. No new social housing, extra money for (less un)affordable housing but only vague promises about whether there will be land to use it on. Way more money put into private housing which will probably be competing for the same land. People who have been put into debt due to the the flaws in the change to universal credit will have money 'loaned' to them. Debt to wipe out debt for people struggling to manage money lol (Still an improvement though) Sigh.
Depends if they think they can win in 2022. If they don;t they can get rid of her easily. They might want her out sooner anyway. After the next round of Euro talks with Barnier would be a good time, especially if he is taking advantage of May not having her own party's support. They might give the job of finishing Brexit to Gove or Davis with a clear understanding there will be a leadership election in 2021.
"We will encourage councils as well as housing associations to bid for this money and provide certainty over future rent levels. And in those parts of the country where the need is greatest, allow homes to be built for social rent, well below market level." and "A new generation of council houses to help fix our broken housing market." So if a council bids for this money and then the social rent is well below market level...............that doesn't count as social housing? Sounds just like the deal I have with my council house. Owned by council, Rent about 3/5ths of private rent.
The first and Third red text, no(at least by my definition, or theirs by the way they worded it), they're talking about affordable which is 20% less than market rent and doesn't use the formula for social rent that takes into account local wages etc. usually thats around 60% of market, so what you're on i would guess. Theyre using a cheap trick there where theyve reduced social rent by 1% per year for 4 years to show how caring they are(while also reducing the amount of housing benefit theyre paying themselves), but at the same time encouraging councils and housing associations change the tenancy for these properties to affordable which is much higher. If you're on an assured tenancy you're fine as it can't be forced on you. although they've reduced the security on newer tenancies to the 7 year ones. The second red text, i think, is referring to proper social housing, but its so vague i just ignored it, i took it to mean the government will allow it in special circumstances. You'll often find that you'll have neighbors on the same estate with an identical home from the same landlord with quite different rents because of that. Anyway, if they want to fix the housing crisis they have to focus on providing land to build on. They mentioned it several times but weren't specific as to how so i'm not holding great hope of improvement but i don't really know what their strategy is there.
Confuse the public works best. In Catalunya it is to create a crisis (Puigdemont) wnen there wasn't!!!! And whip up the sentiments of the populace to further your cause. Perhaps he has taken over from Boris as public enemy number one!
The 1% must be in "real terms" then because my rent has gone up year on year. A hefty £69 a week now. lol. It was £56.34 a week when I "won it" in 2007. There is a difference "here in Lincoln anyway" where my house is £69 council (£300/mnth) £80 housing association (£346/month) and private they are in the £450/mnth region. So mine by that guide is 2/3 market. and housing assoc is about 3/4. All council houses are on that lower rate here. There tend to be more bidders for a council house than the housing assoc ones (they are on the same bidding site.) Low earners or non earners aren;t paying any rent though so its by the by really. Council is better off paying housing benefit to themselves than the £450 private sector rent. There is state owned derelict land all over the place especially in the existing council estates. There used to be schools all over the place, some back to back. They've merged a fair few of them. They;ve supposedly been going to build on one on my estate for the last 6 or 7 years when they merged it with the school it neighboured (quite literally a fence between their 2 playing fields.) Just been left derelict with nothing done to it. I think these were being saved for George Osborne's "preferred partners" to get sweet deals and build exec houses. So for me its a great policy. Up yours Osborne. Now to make sure that the big developers are kept out of the loop and local builders enticed back into the building trade rather than stacking shelves or driving taxis.
That speech yesterday left me despondent beyond belief. My "political awakening" began when I was about 15/16 by which time we'd got Macmillan. Watched and lived under quite a few PMs since, and not one of them - not even "Call-me-Dave" - have come close to giving me the feeling that the country is entirely rudderless as this bunch. This lot are truly crap. So come in, the left, your time is now. Oh bugger. Big Jez and the Bollocks Talkers are in town. Now where is that application for French citizenship? Or Swiss, or ....
