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The mess of government intervention in housing

The mess of government intervention in housing

November 22, 2018

Which housing tenure receives most subsidy? Inside Housing readers know that the question isn’t a simple one and that the obvious answer – social housing – isn’t necessarily correct. The quest for a full analysis has just been boosted by housing finance experts Peter Williams and Steve Wilcox, whose report Dreams and Reality looks not […]

Category: Housing | Tags: private rented sector, housing investment, housing benefit, homeownership, housing associations

Government policy needs to return to building homes to let at modest rents

Government policy needs to return to building homes to let at modest rents

March 22, 2018

As the latest UK Housing Review is published, co-author John Perry describes how government priorities have shifted from direct investment in affordable housing to personal subsidy through housing benefit. If asked about how the government spends money on housing, most people would probably say they build council houses – but of course they’d be wrong. […]

Category: Housing | Tags: housing finance, housing investment, housing benefit, housing policy

Social housing should cost no more than 28% of residents’ income, a report says, urging the adoption of a living rent. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/Guardian

Experts encourage more social housing investment as a way to lower welfare bill

June 19, 2015

The case for more investment in affordable housing is growing. Two reports launched this week looked at the arguments for a massive programme of affordable house building and both concluded that more investment would significantly reduce the welfare bill. Wednesday’s report from social housing campaign group Shout and the National Federation of Almos warns that […]

Category: Housing | Tags: council housing, housing investment, housing benefit, rents

Why the government’s 'long-term economic plan' should include building more social rented homes

Why the government’s ‘long-term economic plan’ should include building more social rented homes

June 18, 2015

There’s a strong economic argument for building more low-rent homes to address the massive shortage of housing according to a new report by Capital Economics for SHOUT (Social Housing Under Threat) and the National Federation of ALMOs. In fact there are two good arguments – that the capital investment boosts the economy and helps pay […]

Category: Housing | Tags: borrowing rules, housing finance, housing investment, housing benefit

Last December's housing protests at London's New Era estate. Image: Leo Neal/AFP/Getty.

Five ways low wage-earners are being banished from central London

April 25, 2015

London is getting less and less like the rest of the country. Elsewhere houses prices have struggled to reach 2007 levels, but in the capital they’ve already grown by more than a fifth. The price of a one-bedroom home in London would secure a three- or even four-bedroom house almost anywhere else. Because of its […]

Category: Housing | Tags: council housing, housing investment, housing benefit, welfare reform | 2 Responses

The overwhelming case for new public housing

The overwhelming case for new public housing

April 9, 2015

John Healey MP and John Perry We face a housing and cost of housing crisis greater than at any point since the aftermath of the second world war. Britain is not building enough new homes, and the accommodation that is available is increasingly unaffordable to millions of people. It is a measure of a nation’s […]

Category: Housing | Tags: council housing, borrowing rules, housing finance, housing investment, housing benefit

Cameron’s Migration ‘Squeeze’

December 2, 2014

Under pressure from Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight in February 2003, Tony Blair conceded that the number of asylum seekers coming to Britain was too high and pledged to halve them by the following September. The promise was widely derided, but Blair had done his homework: officials had assessed the impact of Labour’s 2002 Asylum Act, […]

Category: Housing, Migration | Tags: private rented sector, migration policy, housing benefit, migration statistics, immigration checks | 1 Response

Private landlords will need to check the immigration status of tenants or face hefty fines under the immigration bill. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Archive/Press Association Ima

Six reasons why the UK immigration bill needs to be amended

February 11, 2014

When even the immigration minister struggles to enforce the rules, what chance do private landlords have? Mark Harper’s difficulty in getting to grips with his own immigration rules should give all parties pause for thought. Is it really sensible to extend the checks imposed on employers so that even trickier ones have to be carried […]

Category: Housing, Migration | Tags: private rented sector, migration policy, housing benefit, housing market, immigration checks

Cameron’s benefit blunder

June 26, 2012

The PM wants to put age restrictions on housing benefit. But if young people are penalised for moving out of their parents’ home, and the only jobs available are low-paid ones in high-rent areas, what can they do?

Category: Housing | Tags: housing benefit, welfare reform

Homelessness: behind the headlines

March 12, 2012

The latest homelessness figures show that rising rents, constraints on housing benefit and cuts to council budgets are all coming home to roost.

Category: Housing | Tags: homelessness, private rented sector, housing benefit

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John Perry John Perry lives in Masaya, Nicaragua where he works on
UK housing and migration issues and writes about those
and other topics covered in this blog.
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