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One of the key issues that Labour will need to resolve is how to match their aspirations to expand the construction of (social) housing with the geographical and demographic 'housing need'... but as Alex Lord (ULiverpool) notes, currently housing need is a crude & undifferentiated metric to work from.
Really assessing & then targeting a more nuanced depiction of housing need, should help Angela Rayner deliver on her promise(s) & get the right dwellings built!
#housing
https://theconversation.com/no-government-in-half-a-century-has-built-300-000-homes-every-year-but-thats-what-labour-wants-to-do-now-236442
@ChrisMayLA6 so long as she doesn't let the big builders convince her that high quality housing is far too expensive to build.
It adds very little to the cost of a building about £1k to make it reach passivhus standard, so compared to the builders profit a flea bite.
But instead social housing becomes cheap for the poor to live in. So adds to the local economy as the poor spend most of their income.
There is so much more that should be done https://mastodon.social/@urlyman/112877569716857593
I *think* I recall there was some talk on both, 1. Crack down on multiple home ownership &
2. Crack down on vacant property at some point in the past, but as yet nothing concrete being suggested... your last point on environmental standards is interesting - see also @epistatacadam - not least of all for a small investment, one might see some wider useful economic effects
@ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam most vacant property is in probate or owned by people in long-term care. A mechanism for dealing with the remainder would be useful however there is already an empty homes premium in the Council Tax system. (UK)
@anarchic_teapot@lingo.lol@Soupdragon @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam I think you mean housing property. It would be interesting to see a crackdown on empty *commercial* property, because there's always too much of that and converting some of it into living space would solve a lot of problems.
@anarchic_teapot @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam yes sorry. I deal with domestic/housing property only
@Soupdragon @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam Good lord, don't apologise. It's natural* that you'd think above all of your specific sector.
*I have no idea why autocorrect suggested "narwhal" here.
@anarchic_teapot @Soupdragon @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam Since the rules were changed so that empty business property attracted rates empty business property has basically vanished in Wales. Unfortunately that's because every square meter of unused space is rented out for free or a pound to a charity, art collective, hackspace or similar. Been great for those groups but not the original goal.
A lot of office space is also very hard to convert for light and structural reasons.
@etchedpixels @Soupdragon @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam
Well, that's good news. However, the real problem is that commercial and industrial buildings aren't built to anything like the same standards as housing, starting with insulation. I've spent too many years in offices where you freeze in winter and bake in summer. Don't get me started on abominations like the Shard.
@anarchic_teapot @Soupdragon @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam Light is the biggest problem in many cases. A lot of modern stuff is big open spaces that only work because they are open and light propagates deep into the building through all those big windows. When you start trying to add internal walls you've got plenty of insulation options but keeping sufficient light is hard.
@etchedpixels
In my experience, a lot of them supplement with artificial lighting anyway, just to show there's someone there <insert rant here>. (@Soupdragon @ChrisMayLA6 @urlyman @epistatacadam
@anarchic_teapot @Soupdragon @urlyman @epistatacadam
In the past in my timeline we've discussed re-purposing commercial property to residential, and the consensus was while possible, not as easy or as cheap as people often think - which is not to say it shouldn't be done, but it is not a 'cheap fix' (not that I am suggesting you thought it was)
@ChrisMayLA6 @anarchic_teapot @urlyman @epistatacadam a lot depends on the building. Georgian shop units can convert quite nicely. A 70s office block or a 90s carpet showroom is not so good. Costs may vary.
@Soupdragon @anarchic_teapot @urlyman @epistatacadam
Yes, costs (and difficulty) may vary... which is not to say it doesn't work in specific circumstances, just that the general invocation of commercial conversion is a little too general as a policy aim
@ChrisMayLA6 @Soupdragon @urlyman @epistatacadam Yup <hard side-eye at so-called "business parks", although the one near me does also have shops and restaurants>