Page 10 - Phonebox Magazine December 2016

Readers’ Letters
Putting Pen to Paper
Housing Crisis
Dear Sir, There is no doubt the UK is facing its worst housing crisis since the end of World War 2.
The number of homes built nationally since 2010 has averaged 140,000 to 150,000. Experts tell us we need to build at least 250,000 a year to satisfy demand. Even the CBI has described the situation as “unsustainable”.
In the decades following 1945 house building regularly topped 300,000 a year. Those of us who were lucky enough to live through those golden years were able to buy our own homes. In 1969 I worked as a white collar engineer in a northern town. There were 40 people in the of ce. All of us owned a home. It was common in those years for young people in their mid-twenties to take out a mortgage, planning to pay it off by the age of 50, then save more for a comfortable retirement (most of us enjoyed the bene t of a decent company pension scheme as well). Contrast today’s situation where the average age of a rst time buyer is 35. Most young people will never own a home. The price of a house in those days was three times the average wage. Today it is more than seven times. In London it is twelve times. Half the working population earn £20,000 a year or less.
In 1945 the incoming government took over a bankrupt country. The housing stock was clapped out and there was a shortage of every type of building material. Thousands of skilled workers were still in the armed forces. Despite all this in 1948, three years after the War ended 280,000 houses
were completed, most of them in the public sector.
In the past year the UK has fallen to 20th place in the European Housing Exclusion Index. This is a league table ranking 28 European countries by their ability to house their populations adequately. The UK comes out worse than Croatia and Poland. It is the sharpest decline in any European nation. Much of the damage has been caused by cuts to housing bene t. Decisions already taken will make matters worse.
After nearly 40 years of Thatcherite neo liberal consensus and six and a half years of austerity this is the disastrous housing situation we nd ourselves in. One thing is sure – the market will not solve the problem. Houses are far too expensive for most young folk to buy. Rental incomes in the private sector are scandalously high, leaving young people unable to save for a deposit on a home. Social housing is being eliminated. The country needs a massive council house building programme, something this Conservative Government will never countenance, the word “public” is anathema to them. My late father’s generation fought total war, not only to defeat dangerous enemies but to defeat the Depression. Those who were condemned to a life of semi-starvation in the Thirties came home determined to make this country a better place to live in and they succeeded. Now that country is walking backwards into the future. Those brave men and women have been betrayed!!
Steve Mitchell
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Ian Cox
Jane would like to express her sincere thanks to all friends who have supported her Ian’s passing and the many messages of sympathy she has received. Also, thank you for the many and extremely generous donations for Willen Hospice received in memory of Ian.
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10 Phonebox Magazine | December 2016