What is a solution to the housing crisis?

 

Image Credit — Photo by Matthias Groeneveld: https://www.pexels.com/photo/remaining-walls-of-ruined-abandoned-building-4200749/

In current times more and more people are being pushed off the housing market. This is mainly due to the housing crisis that has been running on for many years and is just getting worse and worse over time. When it comes to the option of renting this is no different with rents getting higher and higher and even in lower rented areas, it's still impossible to find a renting house that is within the means of the average person. How did it get this bad?

Things weren't always the way they were today. In the 1970s according to The Guardian, a third of homes were more affordable with there being multiple options for home buyers between buying a house and social housing. This meant that at the time homes only cost £4,057. With many people having the option to choose how they wanted to own a house it was no surprise that more people were able to buy a house at that time.

In the 1980s was when things started to change for social housing with the Right To Buy Scheme which at the time was suitable for people who wanted to own their homes now getting a chance to do so. Later on, however, this had a knock-on effect on the housing market. The Guardian states that “Over time, the sums of money councils could keep creating new homes was reduced, and the number of replacement properties fell.” Soon led to the problem we have now with not enough houses being built to keep up with demand.

Here is where the first problem causing the current crisis starts to show. The solution is building more houses, right? This is partly a solution however with that there is another thing that's needed to be contented for which is where you are building. Builders must make sure the housing blends in with the environment around it and the quality is added to the home. Lots of new builds in recent years have not reflected the charm and consistency of its surrounding areas making ongoing residents become more and more against new houses being built.

New houses being built are great in the short term however there are a lot of times when corners have been cut just to meet a quota. In Japan for example there are many places where houses are smaller than one tiny room and the necessary items are squeezed in. This parallels what is happening in the Uk where the cheapest houses are not only small studio flats but they also don't have the best upkeep with mold, cracks, and other items taking over the house. In the worst cases, it can make houses unlivable. Pushing the need for constant upkeep and tightening the rules of how big houses can be is one way that can keep up a high rate of building but can also insure that the quality is safe for people to live in.

This doesn't add to the fact that even if new houses get built landlords and homeowners can quickly buy the houses and hike up the prices of that property and the surrounding area. When it comes to renting this can affect the price of a surrounding area which is devastating, especially for more low-cost housing areas. Rent costs can go up to the thousands with the lowest seen on Rightmove being around £400 a month.

The Express states that “in a sign of growing concern about the housing crisis, 72 per cent of people in England support the introduction of rent controls, the Ipso poll found.” With the growing support for rent control, this can be a way to fix the crisis for people who are renting and can help renting be more affordable for people wanting to enter the housing market. Having more restrictions on landlords can help not only landlords buy up too many houses but it can also help people more easily get houses.

The cost of living crisis is something that heavily plays into the problem with electricity and gas rising in prices along with many other things placing the housing crisis in a worse place. The first way to fix the housing crisis would be to solve the cost of living crisis which would mean taking control of energy costs. A simple way to fix this would be to bring earnings of the UK in line with the living wage so that more money can be earned and put back into the economy. A big argument against this is that it could affect small businesses however if starting there was more support given to small businesses so they can meet these rises could mean that they can equally keep up with paying their workers at that rate.

What is the long-term solution? Well once fixing the bigger problems it will be important to raise universal housing standards since there are places where people are renting and owning houses that have mold, pests, and important broken items within them. Some houses are just dangerous to live in. Ideal homes state that “New research from Cambridge University has found that the UK has the smallest homes by floor space area of any European country.” This would be easier to combat if standards were updated to have a bigger space and having standards of quality for housing it would make more houses safer to live in for everyone no matter what they can afford.

In conclusion, there are many ways that the housing crisis can be fixed however it will have to take universal effort from the government to not just regulate the market but to get more houses built so that people in the future can get affordable houses. Even without houses for all policy, some fixes can be made that can avoid this policy and work well for both sides of the political spectrum and that can work well for people of all backgrounds and monetary positions. Hopefully, this has been able to help you better understand this problem.