On London's Housing Shortage....

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revisesociology2.3 K3 days ago3 min read

There is a chronic shortage of housing across Britain, particularly in London, where demand just keeps on outstripping supply....

Official ambitions to build 80,000 homes a year are not being achieved: only 71,000 were even started in 2023–24—and only 3,160 in the fourth quarter. This is a system not merely underperforming but on the brink of collapse.

At the root of the crisis lies a combination of the Green belt building ban, and too many bureaucratic hurdles to get through in both the planning and development phases where we are allowed to build. The late has got much trickier following the Grenfell disaster.

The newly established Building Safety Regulator, well-intentioned, now requires case-by-case sign-off for any development over seven storeys.

In fairness to the local planning officers, I do get why it takes so long, literally any development is going to face several objections. These poor sods have to sit in the middle of developers and MIMBYSs, any mistake is going to get lept on by one party or the other. And no one wants to be mistakenly signing off the next Grenfell!

I think we need to streamline the rules, probably if we employ more officers, they'll just go even more in-depth.

The downsides...

Lack of housing in, and around, the capital are clear problems for London. It's a problem for businesses who need to attract employment: they have to pay a premium simply to allow their employees to be able to afford to rent, or at least cover the cost of an annual season ticket if people legitimately choose to live outside of the capital, which can easily add on several thousands of pounds to a salary.

And obviously it's bad for just anyone at any stage of life: younger people cram into shared housing, families have to make do with one bedroom less and no garden, people looking to retire may simply not be able to afford the London option once their salaries disappear.

Potential solutions

Some have suggested we need to streamline the planning system, that could mean making it less complex, requiring fewer hoops, or employing more planning officers to speed things up.

Another solution is to allow some building on greenbelt land, personally I don't mind this too much, it'd take the smirks off some of those Surrey Mums' faces as new blocks of flats overlook their pony paddocks, no problem with that.

Or let's just Vest in other cities outside of London and make them more attractive to business, London is too crowded already, the last thing it needs is MORE people!