Foodbank client stories

[NotAllThere]

There is a general shortage of housing stock - whether to buy or to let. This is caused by
1. More households (or wannabe households)
Causes: migration and more single people (due to divorce or coupling up later) wanting a home of their own
2. Not enough stock
Causes: land banking, nimbyism, government inaction, councils not building, lack of investment

Solutions.
1. Reduce migration
2. Build more homes

Since they're already here, reducing migration won't help. Ergo - BUILD MORE HOMES.

It's really not difficult. But there's no political will. Building more homes, means upsetting nimbys and possible falling house prices.

[northernladyuk]

ok I know it's harsh but 5 kids. Unless you are making some serious money I have no idea how people afford holidays, cars and 5 kids. Perhaps they could have stopped at 4 and his misses get a job.

How did you vote in the Brexit referendum?

[The_Equalizer]

There is a general shortage of housing stock - whether to buy or to let. This is caused by
1. More households (or wannabe households)
Causes: migration and more single people (due to divorce or coupling up later) wanting a home of their own
2. Not enough stock
Causes: land banking, nimbyism, government inaction, councils not building, lack of investment

Solutions.
1. Reduce migration
2. Build more homes

Since they're already here, reducing migration won't help. Ergo - BUILD MORE HOMES.

It's really not difficult. But there's no political will. Building more homes, means upsetting nimbys and possible falling house prices.

Reducing inward migration would help as well as building more homes. But you also need schools, roads, power stations, hospitals... You also need public will. What sort of population density are you will to put up with? Every time I head back to the south east I see clear signs that there are already too many people living in too small an area.

As with every topic on here, I think people should show their hand too. Living in a relatively lightly populated area, but far poorer area my family's standard of living (provided the wife and I can maintain our incomes) walks all over anything we could get in the south east despite hefty pay rises that would probably be possible if we moved.

[BrilloPad]

There is a general shortage of housing stock - whether to buy or to let. This is caused by
1. More households (or wannabe households)
Causes: migration and more single people (due to divorce or coupling up later) wanting a home of their own
2. Not enough stock
Causes: land banking, nimbyism, government inaction, councils not building, lack of investment

Solutions.
1. Reduce migration
2. Build more homes

Since they're already here, reducing migration won't help. Ergo - BUILD MORE HOMES.

It's really not difficult. But there's no political will. Building more homes, means upsetting nimbys and possible falling house prices.

Don't forget foreigners owning property.

To build more homes, it often affects the green belt. Rich people who live there won't let it happen.

[SueEllen]

Don't forget foreigners owning property.

To build more homes, it often affects the green belt. Rich people who live there won't let it happen.

Farm land is considered brown field land and NIMBYs are finding they can't stop those developments even though the local infrastructure can't cope.

[milanbenes]

the only answer is to build build build

no point in a central plan or long term plan because nobody will ever agree to one

so just build build build, at least people will have affordable housing

Milan.

[SimonMac]

ok I know it's harsh but 5 kids. Unless you are making some serious money I have no idea how people afford holidays, cars and 5 kids. Perhaps they could have stopped at 4 and his misses get a job.

We've got five kids between us, three from my past relationship, two from her's, modern families aren't the same as they used to be

[DaveB]

Farm land is considered brown field land and NIMBYs are finding they can't stop those developments even though the local infrastructure can't cope.

No, it's not.

Farmland is often within the Greenbelt around cities but it is not brownfield land.

In planning terms Brownfield land is land that has previously been built on, either as housing or for industrial use and is now either disused or derelict.

[tomtomagain]

It's really not difficult. But there's no political will. Building more homes, means upsetting nimbys and possible falling house prices.

There's vast amounts of building going on across the South East already.

In the village I live in there's currently at least 6 active developments of 10+ houses each. There was a new housing complex of 150 homes built a couple of years ago just on the outskirts. There's large scale planning in for another 150 homes on some fields just outside the village.

There's 13k houses planned for Bicester. There's plans for 35k houses around Aylesbury Vale.

I find it hard to buy this argument that there's not enough housing being built in the SE because where ever you look there are houses going up.

I think the problem is more subtle than simply building more homes. A lot of it is to do with the type of homes being built and the difficulty and expense in actually selling and moving.

Lots of people end up in living homes that are inappropriate for them, my parents ( and my wife's parents ) are great examples of this. The are all in their 70's yet continue to live in the 5 bedroom homes that my wife and I grew up in. They are occupying more space than they need.

Force old people to sell up. That would go a long way to fixing the housing problem.

[vetran]

There's vast amounts of building going on across the South East already.

In the village I live in there's currently at least 6 active developments of 10+ houses each. There was a new housing complex of 150 homes built a couple of years ago just on the outskirts. There's large scale planning in for another 150 homes on some fields just outside the village.

There's 13k houses planned for Bicester. There's plans for 35k houses around Aylesbury Vale.

I find it hard to buy this argument that there's not enough housing being built in the SE because where ever you look there are houses going up.

I think the problem is more subtle than simply building more homes. A lot of it is to do with the type of homes being built and the difficulty and expense in actually selling and moving.

Lots of people end up in living homes that are inappropriate for them, my parents ( and my wife's parents ) are great examples of this. The are all in their 70's yet continue to live in the 5 bedroom homes that my wife and I grew up in. They are occupying more space than they need.

Force old people to sell up. That would go a long way to fixing the housing problem.

They bought their houses so they are entitled to enjoy them. I feel the same way about people driving 4x4s etc but they have a right to them.

We need 200,000 houses a year to keep up with immigration. We have a backlog of about 5 million homes from the last few decades. If you build a couple of Birminghams we might catch up.