Section: Housing Policy
Housing policy - A radical departure from the status quo
Posted 06.12.17
Tony Blair Institute for Global Change: Article link
The paper proposes five policy ideas, which together aim to present a bold and ambitious agenda to solve the UK housing crisis:
- To replace the outdated and discredited Council Tax with a Land Value Tax, building on the best practice from abroad and establishing a fairer and more rational system of property taxation.
- Re-zoning upwards, outwards and inwards to expand the possibilities of more housing construction.
- A new Sovereign Property Fund to support property acquisition by local councils for the express purpose of housing construction and rehabilitation.
- A Rapid Transit Network to accompany the housing regeneration, which through rail, bus and cycle links joins central urban districts to peripheral zones and not only in London but across Britain.
- A new Social Contract with rental sector tenants which extends the standard minimum tenancy to 3 years, limits rental inflation to the consumer price index over that time and provides stronger protections from eviction.
The Paper acknowledges that for many a flourishing rental sector is essential and housing needs are not always served by the focus on ownership to the exclusion of other forms of tenure.
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Quick Links
Updated 08.12.17
Guardian Housing Network: Welsh lesson: why the housing crisis is turning into a very English problem - article by Dawn Foster, freelance writer on politics, social affairs and economics.
