Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Question of the Day
Can anyone tell me what "affordable housing" is? Seriously, what does it mean? Surely any house that can be purchased is affordable isn't it? Or is the Labour Party's love with affordability an absolute in a world where they think that poverty is relative? Just thinking out loud you understand.
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'Affordable housing' is a concept devised to place a price on a property that is just affordable in terms of keeping business in business.
How about: "housing that has to be subsidised because national pay bargaining makes it impossible for public sector employers to set appropriate local pay scales"?
Dizzy, you've come up with one of the great philosophical thoughts of our age.
It simply had not occurred to me before.
Clearly affordable housing is what the person can afford. So, although a £100,000 house may just be affordable to Person A, equally a £500,000 house may just be affordable to Person B.
The phrase is, I suppose, an umbrella for all the "initiatives" dreamt up by government in terms of shared ownership, rent to buy, housing associations, etc. Or a euphemism for "first time buyers", "lower end of the market".
It's simply housing for those people who the state keeps poor through its own deliberate action.
It is designed to further increase the dependency on handouts for people who might vote for a larger state.
Affordable Housing is the average price of a house is 3 times average earnings. The above is the historical average, before the credit bubble.
The amount that can be paid by key workers - start up teachers, nurses, junior pen pushers, fire fighters, police, telephone hygienists, hairdressers - would be a reasonable measure.
And or whatever the max HB is for those who are entitled to that.
Key workers one bedders in Mcr start at around £60 per week.
Not dissimilar to council/HA rent. Bit more perhaps.
The lack of general rent control is not a great thing really and truly is it? Very inflationary. Necessity into auction/hot market situation.
Having some rent controlled/affordable stock might put the brakes on just a bit for the more unseemly excess profit takers.
thats easy! its £5 less than some figure bruun will pluck out of his arse to prove he did something, like tax credits and poverty £5 under your poor £5 over welcome to wonderland.
Affordable housing is a one-off discount for the lucky buyer as they can sell it for market rate afterwards.
The developer effectively subsidises it under duress, it is a sort of bribe/blackmail arrangement.
Affordible housing is the price of a slum. Slums are the beloved and major support of all socialists. They would like to afford as many as possible - one way or another.
Affordable housing is the reason the other houses aren't affordable.
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