On October 21st, 2015, Christine Whitehead gave a talk at the Policy Forum for London discussing the contemporary politics surrounding housing in London. She examined the complexities of the various factors that need to be addressed to confront the current housing crisis.
Here, Christine evaluates the positives and negatives of the housing market in London:
- Completions stable at around 18,000, way below Plan let alone requirements and new orders falling (affordable housing timing)
- Densities and overcrowding increasing
- Homelessness rising – 80% higher than in 2010
- House prices and private rents rising (although prices actually fell in August
- Some government initiatives which may reduce capacity
BUT
- Planning permissions and now starts rising quite rapidly
- Increasing emphasis on unlocking large sites with assistance from GLA/HCA and DCLG – Housing Zones (although as yet little evidence of successful build out)
- Increasing interest from Housing Associations and institutional funding in private rented sector
- Attempts to improve rental offer
- Large number of government incentives
The presentation slides can be found here on our archives page.
