380,000 new homes per year.

[Workingman]

So say the LibDems, it's a few more than what the others promise, but they all promise more, more and more.

It is 3.8 million in a decade and enough to house an extra 9 million people. Nothing anywhere near that number is ever going to be achieved, and all the parties know it. So do we, the public, btw. The UK simply does not have the capacity, in anything, to support those numbers.

If anything we should be looking to reduce the population.

[cromwell]

If anything we should be looking to reduce the population.

Exactly.

The last time any government managed to build 300,000 houses in a year was in the 1950's when Harold MacMillan was housing minister. We've not come near it since as far as I know. Constantly trying to cater for more and more and more people is nuts.

[cruiser2]

THere are not enpugh brick layers to build 300,000 houses a year.

There was a programme on TV which showed how modern prefabricted houses could be built much quicker, cheaper and better insulated than brick ones.
All that is needed is the land to put them on. One housebuilder is not buying any more land at the moment because of the cost.

When houses are mentioned does it include flats?

[cromwell]

Those are good points Cruiser.
I can't see the price of land coming down soon either; we are a small island and we surely can't build on every field.

[Kaz]

Is this social housing though, as that’s what is really needed?

[cromwell]

I don't think anyone has thought that far ahead Kaz.
I would doubt it though.
There's probably more profit in four and five bed detached homes, that's all that seems to get built these days.
Why does nobody build terraces now?

[Workingman]

Why does nobody build terraces now?

Land. It does not matter the type of housing... we still do not have the land or infrastructure. THERE ARE TOO MANY OF US!

There are tower blocks near me - eighteen floors with six flats per floor. That's 108 homes per tower block. If all the new 380,000 home were in tower blocks that would be 3,500 blocks every year. They save on land, but we would be building the slums of the future.

We have already thrown up dangerous Hell-holes. This article explains.

[Workingman]

What bothers me about all this is that politicians, charities and think tanks scream out: "Think of the homeless, we need 380,000 homes" and we all jump on board. Nobody asks why we need them, we just want them so we will have them. It's oh so easy.

Unfortunately nobody ever thinks where the land, materials and manpower will come from to build these homes and their attendant infrastructure - schools, doctor's surgeries, sewers, roads, hospitals. Then, when it doesn't happen, we blame the politicians.

We have to stop the population from growing, especially from immigration, but we collectively do not have the will to do so. It's not just a UK thing, either, it's a global issue.

But we need to grow the economy, don't we, and so the problem never ends?

[cromwell]

I think that's because as far as politicians go Frank, this is a dishonest discussion.
Much of our population growth is down to immigration. 600,000+ net last year and that's before illegals get added in.

MP's know that immigration is not universally popular, we'll say - certainly not at the current levels. So they just don't mention it.
They won't make the connection between 600,000 new people to house, and new housing needed. It's just "Oh, we need much more housing".

And there's one more thing that needs saying. Proportionally the poor areas of the country take many more asylum seekers than does the rich. The compassion of the Islington set does not extend to actually housing 10,000 Afghans in their area, for example. They are dumped in the Middlesboroughs, Barnsleys, Oldhams of this world instead.

My town Wakefield is knocking down an old cinema and building lots of social housing in the area. OK, all well and good. As Kaz says, it's needed. Other sixties era buildings are being converted into flats. If these go to local people who have been on a waiting list to be housed for years on end, sound. If they go to a load of dinghy jockeys then in twenty years time the centre of town is going to be a ghetto.

[Workingman]

At least some of us get it. Unfortunately the pearl clutchers, hand wringers, capitalists and the media drown us out. Especially the capitalists with their never ending growth...

There is no analysis from them... we just need more homes for more people so we must have them.

Westminster or Mayfair 2025? I don't think so. Somewhere poor - probably.