Tories Drop Two Flagship Housing Policies From Key Strategy Document

Two of the Conservatives’ flagship housing policies have been dropped from a key government document, raising questions about the future of the plans. The new “single departmental plan” published by the CLG does not include a single reference to Starter Homes, which form a central plank of the Government’s commitment to increase home ownership, or of the planned extension of Right to Buy. The document, which forms part of the guidance for civil servants working on housing, is in stark contrast to the previous plan published last year, in which the two policies featured prominently and were mentioned several times as part of the Conservatives’ housing strategy. Read more on the Independent website.

Non-Starter Homes

The government’s flagship house building policy is 200,000 new “Starter Homes” by 2020. The policy was launched with a fanfare by the Prime Minister during the general election campaign with the words “a home of your own” emblazoned behind him: a sentiment that Shelter would certainly endorse. However, new analysis shows that these Starter Homes will be a non-starter for families on typical wages across most of the country. In fact, average earning families will be priced out of these new “affordable” homes in 58% of local authorities by 2020, while families earning the new National Living Wage will be priced out in 98% of the country. The government might be scratching its head at these results but even with a 20% discount on the price and an average deposit already saved up or gifted, typical families can’t afford these homes in most places. How can this be? It’s simply because house prices are now so wildly out of kilter with normal earnings. Read more on the Shelter blog.