Red BrickBy Pete Challis
According to Wikipedia, the first meaning of the adjective Orwellian is that it ‘describes official deception’.
In George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four the three slogans of ‘The Inner Party’ are “WAR IS PEACE,” “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY,” and “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”.
In true Orwellian style, Grant Shapps has now added “UNAFFORDABLE IS AFFORDABLE”.
Today’s final report from the Institute for Public Policy Research’s comprehensive review of housing has a huge array of good ideas for new investment, home ownership, and private renting. It bravely attempts to take an overview of the whole housing system and the long term policies that might improve access and affordability for everyone. Inevitably there are questions about funding and practicability, and occasionally principle, with regard to many of the proposals, but that is only to be expected in this type of forward-looking report. In my view it goes awry on two topics: an extreme version of localisation of all housing expenditure and an approach to social housing that buys into the Tory view of social housing and social tenants.
The Government’s plan to introduce a caravan tax on static as well as mobile caravans, reduced by U-turn from 20% to 5% VAT, brought much needed attention to the mobile homes industry, which has been quietly growing over the last few years.
The Communities and Local Government Select Committee has been holding an inquiry into ‘park homes’ and their report is published this morning. It shows an industry urgently in need of reform and regulation to protect residents from malpractice.
Jon Cruddas’ first interview since joining the Shadow Cabinet to coordinate the Policy Review was encouraging. In particular I like the fact that he seems to be able to look beyond the sterile argument about whether Labour should appeal to middle England or its traditional support. He knows Labour needs to appeal to both and that low turnout amongst Labour voters is just as damaging as failing to attract floaters. He is portrayed as a man of the left but his flirtation with Blue Labour and his support for David Miliband as Leader show a much more complex political position. He has a sensible critique of the Labour Government, working on the inside for Tony Blair at Downing Street before becoming alienated from the ‘policies and language’ in the later years.
Long-suffering readers of Red Brick are used to being recommended long and, it has to be said, occasionally boring texts on housing. We like to keep you up to date with the latest research and even try to read it ourselves to give you a flavour of what it concludes.
But if you could only read one thing, once again the most authoritative and useful document of the year is the mid-year Briefing published to complement the Annual UK Housing Review. The Briefing is only some 20 pages long but it races round the whole housing racecourse commenting on all the major trends and giving the latest housing facts. Written by Hal Pawson and Steve Wilcox, published by Chartered Institute of Housing and the Orbit Group, it starts with wider economic prospects, summarises changes in the housing market, and examines latest trends in housebuilding, affordability, welfare reforms, and homelessness. It also takes a look at trends in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and points the way to more detailed sources if they are needed.
By Monimbo
Red Brick reported earlier in the week on the letter sent by Jack Dromey to the UK Statistics Authority, criticising Grant Shapps’ use of housing statistics. The minister’s response, which accuses Dromey of indulging in an ‘incomprehensible rant’, suggests that Mr Shapps might not have been deterred by the shadow minister’s warning. His rather cavalier approach to figures is revealed again in his reply.
You may not be the type of person who studies tables of figures, few of us are, but I would ask you to have a look at the tables on new housebuilding published today by the government quango the Homes and Communities Agency.
They show housing starts – ie when a builder takes charge of a site and cuts the first sod – and completions (ie handed over for occupation) – under various headings over the past few years. I am asking you to look at the tables so you can see all the figures and make your own assessment of the veracity of various claims about them.
The Communities and Local Government department used to pride itself in its rigorous approach to ‘evidence based policy making’. Now it has become the seat of ‘policy based evidence making’, at least on the Ministerial corridor.
The latest examples have been Eric Pickles’ latest pronouncements on the ‘troubled families’ programme and Grant Shapps’ increasingly distant relationship with accurate statistics.
The housing market in this country is dysfunctional and it is the responsibility of Government to intervene to ensure that market mechanisms work as well as they can do to achieve society’s goals. Two recent examples from very different parts of the country illustrate the problems that free markets can create and the difficulty in getting intervention right.
You won’t see much about it in most of the Tory press, but rarely has the visit of an American economist changed the terms of political debate as much as that of the Nobel Prize for Economics winner Paul Krugman last week (in the UK to promote his new book, ‘End This Depression Now!’).
His appearance on Newsnight, when he exposed the economic stupidity and political crassness of two Tory opponents, has become the talk of the town and a mild antidote to Jubilee fever.