FP020 The Housing Problem
Channel: Freedom Philosophy
Date: 2013-10-13

I take a good look at Britain's housing problem - the extortionate and unaffordable cost of homes in the UK. I trace the problem back to the Norman conquest that perpetuated centuries of land shortage, inflating rents and labour prices leading to stifled economic development.

In contemporary Britain there is a struggle between the wealth elites and the middle to upper classes who stand to lose a lot of money if new housing developments speeds up. The middle classes would prefer redevelopment of "brown field" sites, but this is less profitable and risky for developers.

Presently building a new property requires navigation of many hundreds of pages of planning and building regulations, that's even if you can obtain some land!

Where will it all end? I rather suspect the middle classes are going to be burnt one way or the other. Prepare for some upset Daily Telegraph readers!? Maybe, the struggle isn't over yet.

Sources and further reading:
The Progress Report Review of Who Owns Britain
http://www.progress.org/revwob.htm

Country Life, Who Owns Britain
http://www.countrylife.co.uk/countryside/article/506868/Who-owns-Britain-Top-UK-landowners.html

New Statesmen, The coming battle over land and property
http://www.newstatesman.com/society/2010/10/land-tax-labour-britain

The Telegraph, Hands Off Our Land
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/hands-off-our-land/8745367/Hands-Off-Our-Land-by-numbers.html
The ironically titled campaign by this middle/upper class newspaper to try and stop people from developing on land they own!
(cos that will spoil views, risk negative equity and leave plebs living next door?)

NHBC Foundation
http://www.nhbcfoundation.org/Researchpublications/ProspectsfortheUKhousebuildingindustryNF39/tabid/495/Default.aspx

Image of Charlies House used with permission.
http://naturalhomes.org/save-charlies-house.htm

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