Where is the appetite for change?
No one looking at Manchester’s skyline would say developers lack ambition. But in the wider built environment, there is a lack of an appetite for a fundamental change in how the market works.
This extends further, into government. It seems the housing crisis is too big a problem to get to grips with. Instead, there have been various initiatives and interventions, such as help for first time buyers, shared ownership schemes, stamp duty manipulation and, more recently, planning reform.
In the face of the looming existential threat to UK home ownership, these are little more than gimmicks.
Good intentions aren’t going to be anywhere near enough to fix the affordability issue. It requires a wholesale attitudinal change and cultural shift. We should all ask ourselves, what will happen to housing in the UK if nothing changes?
Eldridge Cleaver said, “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.”
