We face a growing housing crisis, and the government is making things worse
9th December 2011
The average home in Southampton costs almost 9 times the average Southampton annual salary, a new report by the National Housing Federation reveals today. Alan Whitehead is backing the report's call for an urgent increase in building new homes in and around Southampton to prevent a growing housing crisis.
The NHF's Home Truths report warns that an entire generation is being locked out of a broken housing market in the South East. The average worker in Southampton would need to have almost double the average local income (£38k vs. an average income of 20k) to afford a 75% mortgage in our city.
The NHF, which represents housing associations in England, warns of a unique triple whammy hitting first-time buyers and low-to-middle income earners: steep rises in the private rental sector, huge social housing waiting lists and sustained high house prices. The fundamental problem remains a chronic under-supply of homes. Despite the economic turbulence, house prices in the South East are still 22% higher than 5 years ago and 100% higher than 10 years ago.
The Federation’s Warren Finney said: “The South East has become unaffordable for ordinary hardworking people who have no realistic chance of buying their own house, triggering even greater demand for good social housing or a desperate search for a home in the more expensive private rented sector.”
Alan Whitehead MP says:
“The truth is our housing market simply isn’t working, either for first time buyers or for families struggling in overcrowded accommodation. We need to get more new homes built in the south-east as a matter of urgency, but in the last year we’ve seen funding for new social homes cut by 60%, soaring rents, and a rise in homelessness. We face a growing crisis in housing in Southampton and the current government’s approach runs the risk of making things worse. The only viable way to make homes more affordable is to build more.”
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