If the polls are to be believed, Keir Starmer will be our next Prime Minister and Labour could have a supermajority that will allow them to govern with immense power, for a long period of time.
But the polls have been wrong before. Anyone recall Brexit? And they could be again.
But if they are right, then it could actually be good news for housing and for the property sector in general.
What we desperately need is a long-term plan to tackle what is deep-rooted in the availability of affordable housing.
Many people struggle to get on the property ladder
GETTY
And if a Government with a strong majority can address that, then that’s all well and good. Right now, millions of young adults are losing hope of buying a home, and that must change after the next election.
Whoever is resident in 10 Downing Street after the election will have a host of issues to address, but housing should be near the very top of the to-do list.
We are seeing the impact the housing crisis is having. Locals are being priced out of areas near their family and friends, adult children are still living with parents, and the age people choose to have children – and how many they have – has changed.
It is a sad fact that not only do millions of young people now not see a way they will ever be able to buy their own home, but increasingly, many do not see a way they will ever even be able to afford to rent.
The task ahead of the tenant in Downing Street is immense. I think there are eight things they should do to help the property market. These are:
- Build hundreds of thousands of new homes to keep pace with demand. We need to turbocharge housebuilding.
- Embark on a new town scheme to build mass housing where it is needed, encouraging investment away from over-crowded London and the South East
- Make moves to de-privatise housing. Allow councils to borrow to build homes for those on benefits. This would end the madness of councils paying £14billion a year in benefits to private landlords to outsource the problem of a lack of housing.
- Add a further levy to second homeowners to bring in additional revenue and discourage under-use.
- Slash Stamp Duty for downsizers to free up much-needed bedroom space in large family homes.
- Offer meaningful tax breaks to landlords who insulate their tenant’s homes. The poorest in society often live in the most energy-intensive properties, costing money and causing emissions unnecessarily.
- I’d like to see the next Government create a new Ministry for Housing and have cross-party involvement within it. Politicians should all agree that we need more affordable housing and they should be working together, outside of party politics, to deliver it.
- We also need a housing minister who is in it for the long haul. In the last decade, we’ve seen countless ministers come and go. The removal van outside the housing minister’s office should have had its own parking space. We need stability and a long-term strategy that delivers change and which provides solutions to our housing crisis.
