Housing in crisis?Alan Marvell

Department of GeographyBath Spa University

a.marvell@bathspa.ac.uk

The demand for housing

“We estimate that the difference between housing demand and supply will have widened into a yawning gap of 1.1 million homes in England alone by 2022: most of it in London and the South East.”

Lord Best, Director of the Joseph Rowntree

Foundation, March 2002

Persimmon Homes, Priory Vale, Swindon

High density suburbia

Red House Way, Priory Vale, Swindon

High density suburbia

Bryant Homes, Priory Vale, Swindon

The demand for rooms

Redrow Homes, Priory Vale, SwindonBryant Homes, Priory Vale, Swindon

The demand for rooms

Crest Homes, Priory Vale, SwindonBryant Homes, Priory Vale, Swindon

Urban extensions

View over North Swindon

Affordability

• According to a study by HBOS (2007), the average cost of a house is unaffordable for key workers in at least 70% of towns across Great Britain.

• Greater London and the South East were the next most expensive locations to live with 95% of towns and boroughs unaffordable for key workers in 2006 and 100% of boroughs in 2007.

• The house price to earnings ratio is highest in London and the South East with the average price of a house being 11.1 times the average salary for ambulance staff, a ratio of 9.5 for nurses and 7.6 for teachers.

HBOS (2007) Halifax Key Worker Housing Review. Halifax: Halifax plc.HBOS (2006) Halifax Key Worker Housing Review. Halifax: Halifax plc.

Affordability

• The Government defines affordability as “subsidised housing that meets the needs of those who cannot afford secure decent housing on the open market either to rent or buy” (ODPM 2006, p5).

ODPM (2006) Affordability and the Supply of Housing. Third Report of Session 2005-06, Volume 1. London: The Stationery Office Limited.

• The average house now costs more than six times the average wage; in London the figure is closer to nine times (BBC 2007).

BBC (2007) Homes in the UK: prices vs wages. BBC News Online [online] available from

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/guides/456900/456991/html/nn2page1.stm [accessed 2.3.2007].

Assisted housing

Madison Walk, Priory Vale (Bovis Homes)

Identity

“It’s important to be able to have a sense of place, a sense of identity about where you live… attachments to things in life is part of human happiness.”

Wayne Hemingway, 2006

Red House Way, Priory Vale