The Foundations Of The Housing Crisis How Our Extractive Land And Development Models Work Against Public Good
Introduction:
Far too much of the value arising from the development and economic life of our places, which is created collectively, is captured by a few private owners. Many of the places where we spend time and live our lives are not serving us well. Local economies are blighted by poor quality and unaffordable housing, high household bills, inefficient transport systems and car-centric neighbourhoods. These serve as a daily reminder of a broken economy that is not serving the needs of people or planet. Stark regional wealth and health inequalities characterise England today. Many of these imbalances are made possible by the extraction of money from local areas through high rents, low wages, land banking and private sector development premised on profit creation.
How Well Is The Current Development Model Serving Us?:
Britain’s land and housing models are not fit for purpose. The housing system has been pushed into a crisis of affordability, which is having major implications across the country. The existing development model is not able to supply enough homes at genuinely affordable rent and purchase prices. As it stands, at least 8.5 million people in Britain are living with some kind of unmet housing need, meaning housing options available are insufficient to meet their needs, which has been exacerbated by the cost of-living crisis. These factors are driving poor physical and mental health for many households.
The Housing Crisis Is A Land Crisis:
Whilst rent and purchase prices have spiraled, one of the underlying catalysts for the dysfunctionality of the housing system in Britain is the broken land market, which has propelled wealth inequality. Between 1995 and 2022, land value has increased by more than 600%, and now stands at £7.2tn,23 representing more than 60% of the UK’s total net worth.24 In this period land has shifted from making up 23% of households’ net wealth to 45%.25 This asset economy is inherently unequal, with 30% of households owning no property wealth, accounting for the largest source of regional wealth inequality in the country.
Bridging Housing And Land: Turning To Planning:
Underpinning the affordability crisis of housing is the planning system. However, a wide variety of diagnoses of the system’s problems exist. On the one hand, it has been subject to heightened contestation in recent years, critiqued as archaic, inefficient and a roadblock to house building. On the other, there are calls to restrict – or at least carefully consider – the building of new homes as they encroach on existing communities and green space. In this context, the planning system itself has become the centre of a political battle, as mainstream parties compete on public promises of planning reform or renewal as an antidote to the current crisis.
Beyond Land And Housing:
As discussed at the beginning of this paper, there are many elements other than land and housing that contribute to developing a great place to live and a strong and sustainable local economy. While other considerations such as local transport, the climate and nature impacts of our places, and non-residential spaces for community and commercial uses are not core parts of this paper, it is worth briefly unpacking some of the issues relevant to these elements. This will give a more complete picture of present shortcomings and what an alternative development model should offer. In the case of street design, active travel provision, nature-positive green infrastructure and affordable non-residential space, the policy levers outlined above for land readjustment, the capture of land value uplift and a more proactive neighbourhood planning role for local government could help to deliver these elements as well as supporting better and more affordable housing.
Conclusion:
Prioritizing good design by creating places which are easy to manage and maintain is beneficial in both the short and long term. Creating well-designed places extends beyond the structural integrity of buildings; it pertains to social, environmental, economic, cultural and ecological well-being. Experiences of deprivation manifest in multiple aspects of everyday life in interlinking ways, creating trade-offs in which families are forced to choose between essentials such as the need to access transport to paid work instead of heating. Stable, low-cost and well-built homes in places that are designed for communities offer the opportunity to remove the need for this trade-off.
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