Second homes anyone?

bristol | community | news report Saturday November 08, 2008 01:03 by Homeboy

Take aim at the real problem

Fancy a second home anybody? With property sales crashing, and mortgages proving hard to get, now is the time for the cash-rich to buy yet another second home, to go with the reckoned over 240,000 second homes in England – that is registered second homes (for council tax purposes), so the real figure is likely to be higher given the tendency of the rich & powerful to keep their wealth a secret, and untaxed too. These are homes not permanently occupied, such as holiday homes and homes used for a few days a week by high-flying business execs.

The highest concentration of such homes are in the City of London, the next highest concentrations are in rural areas, with the south west providing 4 of the top 10 such areas (figures taken from the National Housing Federation and Campaign to Protect Rural England report of September 2008 – oh yes, know your enemy!). Second home ownership has forced prices up in such areas, for example in rural areas it is calculated the average house price is 13 times the average wage (2007), and not surprisingly waiting lists for social housing in such areas have risen by 40% in the last 5 years. Equally unsurprising is the trend of locals in rural areas to move away to the cities in the hope of finding some suitable housing, increasing the pressure on urban areas who themselves have dwindling supplies of social housing ever since right to buy came in.

Alongside this runs the fact that there are now over 1.1 million buy-to-let mortages in the UK, up from 29,000 in 1998. This aspect also increases pressure on housing stock as property speculators force house prices up and out of reach of local people, as many Bristol residents know only too well. Despite the recent fall in house prices by some 15% in the last year, it is calculated that they need to fall by at least another 20 to 30% to come down to affordability levels (ie 3 to 4 times average income). So the next time someone tells you that you have a choice, you can tell them where to jump.

Intriguingly, despite an absolute shortage of affordable social housing, and in Bristol its about 12,000 homes, there remains an outrageous number of empties across England. According to the Empty Homes Agency, who highlight the number of empty homes not in use (see http://www.emptyhomes.com/usefulinformation/stats/stati....html) in 2007 there was a cracking 672,924 empty homes. And 6,926 are in Bristol, which is 3.86% of housing stock here.

There has been much debate on Bindymedia about housing recently, in particular on housing need, squatting and affordability. Much nonsense has been written too, especially the absurdity that squatters somehow deny others in housing need a home. This is a classic divide and rule tactic, causing us to argue amongst ourselves instead of taking aim at the real culprits. The fundamental reality is that there are enough homes to go around, but the unequal distribution of possession of homes, allied with the unaffordability of them, results in many of us either inadequately housed or not housed at all. When we could be if there was a will to do it.

But there isn’t. Public money is wasted by chucking it at greedy & selfish banks. Why not use it to pay off people’s mortgages, and use whats left to build, renovate, and take back into use empty properties. Housing based on need, not ability to buy, would eradicate selfish second home-ownership. Instead in Bristol we have the erection of ever more, and underused, office & commercial developments. Of unaffordable homes to buy, but insufficient homes for us to live in. Is it any wonder some have to squat in Bristol?

We need a strategy of opposing all evictions, be they squatters or those in rent or mortgage arrears.
We need homes for all, with size based on housing need.

We need to get ourselves together - its called mutual aid and solidarity, and we’re going to need lots of it in the next few years. We could start by opposing the eviction of 87 Ashley Road in St Pauls, lets get down there early this week and make a start to stopping the madness.