The Institute for Public Policy Research Report – Housing Strategy

Monday, June 25, 2012

The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank has continued its series of reports on housing with a new publication entitled Together at Home: A new Strategy for Housing.  The IPPR states that: "Housing policy has been piecemeal and disjointed across various departments under Governments of all colours. To repair this, our report seeks to offer a coherent new strategy for housing policy in the round: 

• First, we make a social argument for homeownership as a way to foster mixed, stable, integrated communities. We suggest ways to increase housing supply to make homeownership a more realistic prospect for more people by reforming housing finance, the development industry, planning policy and credit control. To build now, we argue, is to invest in our future.
• Second, we propose a better deal for renters. This would mean reasonable regulation of privately rented property, matched by greater flexibility in social housing.
• Third, and most radically, we advocate a new form of progressive localism in housing, through a system of affordable housing grants. In doing so, we address directly how we would change the way £25 billion of public money is spent each year on housing: by decentralising power, resources and responsibility in order to shift public spending, over time, away from benefits and back towards bricks and mortar.

Labour Response to IPPR Report

Jack Dromey MP has responded to the IPPR report Together at Home - A New Strategy for Housing, stating:

"Britain is in the midst of the biggest housing crisis in a generation. Millions are locked out of home ownership, languishing on housing waiting lists or living in a private rented sector where too many face ever-rising rents, unstable tenure and poor standards.  Labour is looking at housing as part of our Policy Review. The IPPR proposals are a welcome contribution to the debate and we will give the recommendations careful consideration.  Long-term reform is needed but, with the housing crisis growing by the day, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Tory-led Government's policies are making things worse, not better. The Government needs to take action now and implement Labour's plan for jobs and growth, including a bank bonus tax to fund 25,000 affordable homes and get the house building sector and economy going again."