“Sadly I don’t think the government has any intention of solving the housing crisis”: Richard Bruce

Sadly I don’t think the government has any intention of solving the housing crisis as shortages inevitably increase value which assists their supporters and landlords – and nor has it fulfilled its promises to the residents of Grenfell and similar potentially dangerous flats. The number of residents in such properties seems to be growing as more investigations discover similar unresolved dangers.

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It was a grave policy error to sell off the council housing stocks cheaply with no funds available to replace them. A better policy would have been to offer the tenants help to buy in the private housing sector so that the properties would still have been available for those unable to afford to buy. It should be remembered that many of those houses were resold and became holiday homes or even “Buy-to-let” properties where all too often the tenant not only has to pay a higher rate than the mortgage would cost but also fees for the landlords agent in addition to Council Tax and Water Rates.

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As I may have mentioned before at the same time as selling off those social housing stocks the government dismantled the efficient Rates system, replacing it first with the Poll Tax and then, after protest, with the Council Tax, but in doing so they moved the cost burden from property owners who could afford the cost to the tenants who could not. Additionally water supply had been included in the rates and the change allowed the privatisation of the Water Boards who then charged the tenants increasing amounts for the water supply and sewage disposal. As so often with privatisation the Water Boards increased their charges without increasing the quality of their services, as we have seen with water leaks, shortages and in the scandal of sewage disposal into rivers and seas.

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The net result of those flawed policies is that an increasing percentage of tenants are unable to afford their rents or their council tax payments, forcing them to claim the various benefits in order to live. This increasing problem has snared working couples employed in low-paid jobs as well as the elderly and disabled.

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The government seems to have no plan to counter the results of its own policies and does not seem to realise that building new homes will not solve the problem of affordability but it will worsen problems with services, schools, transport, NHS etc.

As if to prove its ignorance the latest proposal is that those on benefits should use that money to buy their homes. Clearly they do not understand that all too many of those in receipt of benefits find it hard to afford to eat or heat their homes and could never dream of being able to afford to buy the property.

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We have had decades of Austerity with the pretence that there was no money for government to spend. Essential services have been cut, the armed forces have been cut, vital businesses have been sold off cheaply to political supporters and billions have been wasted in fraud and failed projects, yet suddenly the government throws billions in all directions, including in attempts to prop up the Ukrainian Government in its vain attempts to destroy Russians. By prolonging that war the government is simply destroying our own economy and that of the EU. All to support the USA’s hegemony.

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Already our National Debt is higher than at any time since WW2 despite the historically low interest rates and the signs are that it will only get worse.

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But who really pays the price? The general population in rip-off prices and higher tax.

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