In Homesick Peter Apps has written a crucial book for our times here in England’s Capital and lessons for the country at large – Even a proposal to move Parliament to Leeds! It details the many and varied factors that have brought us to the parlous state of our housing in the 21st century. Both public and private.
The first section gives a detailed and clear eyed view of each decade: With the author explaining not just the Headline policies of Thatcher’s supercharging of the Right to Buy policy but more subtle changes such as the requirement on Councils to prioritise the most in need – A worthy cause that nonetheless made social housing less diverse. The Buy to Let revolution in small time landlords. The workings and power of the large volume housebuilders. In whose interest it is to NOT build in too large a volume. The Help to Buy policies that further distorted prices and the move to subsidise the private sector with a massive increase in Housing Benefit. These and many other policies shaped the dire situation we find ourselves in today.
To ground this in reality Peter leavens the mix by interspersing parts of each chapter with the real life experiences of individuals and families who we follow through the decades. Bringing home the point that policies and choices in market interventions affect real people’s lives. Forcing some to leave, many to struggle and a few to serendipitously prosper.
The Present section delves deeper into what these years of layered policies mean today for social housing, private renting, home buying and homelessness. In each the situation is grim: Damp and mould in 1 in 10 of its social housing. Short term, no fault evictions amongst renters with many Landlords maximising their profits by converting houses built for one family into rooms for a House of Multiple Occupancy. High prices and large deposits and a shortage heightened by Buy to Leave units that see property simply as an investment. A rise not only in the visible tent villages but the “invisible” families housed in one damp room and shared facilities. A return to the conditions my parents started out with following WW II but without the renewal policies to come.
In the final part of the book, Peter looks first at the hollowing out of the city, the challenges of Climate Change and the inevitability of an aging population facing the double whammy of having less income and more housing costs. All starting to come true and requiring fresh thinking to change.
Thankfully we are given this with “Another Way”. Glimmers of hope from across the globe.
Municipalisation policies in Berlin to weaken the power of large landlords, the ideological battle ground of rent control in Barcelona, refit instead of demolition in Paris and perhaps most surprisingly a policy from Kentucky, USA that requires any planning to go through an “anti-displacement metric” to obtain planning approval. Imagine that – buildings that serve the needs of the people who live there! All point to another reality that serves the many rather than lining the pockets of a few.
I was particularly struck by a phrase used at the end of the book, when you’re stuck in one situation one tends to see “The inevitability of continuation.” But London (and the UK) has changed before. Macro-economics, the gilt markets, vested interests and political approach stack the odds against it but with the help of analysis like this and people continuing to fight for better outcomes a brighter future may just be possible.
Publisher: Oneworld
