UK in throes of housing crisis: Poll

The UK is drowning in a severe housing crisis with four in 10 of those who do not own a home saying they can never afford one, a new poll finds.

Sixty-nine percent think the country is “in the throes of a housing crisis” and a staggering 71 percent of aspiring property owners feel they will not be able to purchase a home without financial help from family members, according to a poll conducted for The Observer on attitudes to British housing.

Sixty-Seven percent said they would like to buy their own home “one day,” whereas 37 percent believe they will remain incapable of buying a home for good. Another 26 percent said it will take up to five years for them to have enough money to buy a home.

While there is a shortage of affordable homes, demand for social housing is rising. Over 50 percent said immigration and a glut of foreign investment in UK property are causing prices to soar beyond reach.

Fifty-eight percent of Britons want more, not less, social housing in order to be able to endure the crisis.

The findings came as Prime Minister David Cameron has already pledged to build a property-owning democracy.

Last year and before the general election, Cameron promised that Tory housing policies would transform “generation rent” into “generation buy.”

In April of 2015, he launched plans to force local authorities to sell valuable properties in order to fund new “affordable homes.”

“The dream of a property-owning democracy is alive and well and we will help you fulfill it,” Cameron said. 

Meanwhile, the UK government’s highly controversial housing and planning bill will return to the Commons on Tuesday.

The bill requires councils to sell much of their social housing and curtail lifelong council tenancies, introducing “pay to stay” rules that will compel better-off council tenants to pay rents closer to market levels.

The bill has come under sever attack by cross-party groups in the House of Lords, which has managed to inflict a series of defeats on ministers and forced numerous concessions.

The Labor Party’s housing spokesman, John Healey, said, “Opposition to this bill now comes from across the board: from house builders, housing experts, charities and even Conservative ministers’ own council leaders, MPs and peers. It seems that government ministers are alone in thinking their bill is fit for purpose when it comes to tackling our housing crisis.”

“Despite the string of concessions the government was forced to make, this remains an extraordinary and extreme bill that will lead to a huge loss of affordable homes to rent and buy. Ministers need to listen to the opposition coming from all sides and back down on their damaging housing plans,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the overall house prices rose by 4.5 percent in 2015, with the average price of a property standing at £196,999 in December, according to a report by the Nationwide Building Society.

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