Centre for Policy Studies

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[Centre for Policy Studies @CPSThinkTank]

The UK isn't short of social housing. It's short of homes: 6.5 million of them. Burnham's plan won't touch that, and by pulling money and focus away from large-scale housebuilding, it may even make things worse.

Full report from our @Ben_A_Hopkinson out today: https://t.co/u0xWvRtWM1

[Centre for Policy Studies @CPSThinkTank]

Andy Burnham has pledged ‘the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period’.

But our research shows that housing subsidies in England already total £79bn a year, and the UK has the 4th highest share of social homes in the OECD, double the EU average.🧵

[Centre for Policy Studies @CPSThinkTank]

Then there are the implicit subsidies. The average social home is let at £10,250 below the equivalent private rent. Across 4.2 million homes that's a £43bn gap every year. A Londoner who gets a house at 25 and lives to 81 receives over £1 million in lifetime subsidy.

[Centre for Policy Studies @CPSThinkTank]

Read the full report on England’s £79 billion housing subsidy here: https://t.co/lL9fU7RdYH

[Centre for Policy Studies @CPSThinkTank]

🚨 OUT TODAY: England is already subsidising housing by £79bn a year, yet Andy Burnham wants ‘the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period.’

New research from our @Ben_A_Hopkinson shows why that's the wrong answer to the wrong problem ⬇️

[Robert Colvile @rcolvile]

To generate more growth, there is one great national cheat code staring us in the face: building an absolute ton of homes in the place that wants them most, needs them most and yet is somehow building the least: London. Me for @thetimes

https://t.co/6l8js9y87R

[Simon Clarke @SirSimonClarke]

Great column from @rcolvile unpacking the joint @ukonward and @CPSThinkTank report on how to Get London Building this week👇

[Smart Thinking @SmartThinktanks]

A rare opportunity to join @CPSThinkTank as Research Director in a role overseeing their research programme of high-quality research, managing their policy team, helping to run the Margaret Thatcher fellowship programme and serving on the SLT.

Apply now! https://t.co/HdjGdSKthc

[Ben Hopkinson @Ben_A_Hopkinson]

Housebuilding in London faces its strongest headwinds since the Second World War.

Starts are down to just 4,170 a year, while nearly 100,000 people moved to London last year.

London has not got close to the Labour Government's target of 88,000 new homes a year since the 1930s.

As a result, only the richest households can even afford the cheapest homes and the median household cannot afford any house, without a hefty inheritance.

London residents are also the most supportive of building new homes in their local area (59% in favour versus 14% against).

And if we got London building homes again, the UK economy would grow by tens of billions a year.

For all these reasons and more, we desperately need to build more homes in London. My new report, jointly written with @LRFredricks and with forewords from @JamesCleverly and @policylaila lays out how a future Mayor and Housing Secretary can build the homes London needs. We just need to:🧵

[Simon Clarke @SirSimonClarke]

The total collapse in London housebuilding is set out in this brilliant @ukonward and @CPSThinkTank report says @TiceRichard.

- Affordability targets are a big problem. 35% of nothing is nothing. We have to take bold, radical decisions around viability testing.

- Our planning costs arrive drive the cost of everything up, or stop things from being built altogether.

- You have just got to get some building, and some growth. This will be a theme of Reform conference, and I want this same spirit nationwide, not just in London.

- We have a national emergency in our town centres, and should go further on permitted development. Far too many unviable, unused, grungy brownfield sites, as James said in his remarks.

- Why should planners dictate so much to developers? Let the market decide. Why have a restriction on square meterage? We all want to build safe and secure homes and the Building Safety Regulator was a well-intentioned response to an horrific tragedy. But it needs reform - although I do believe above 18 metres there should be second staircases.

- Read this report from cover to cover, and then again - we can and we must change things!

[Centre for Policy Studies @CPSThinkTank]

🔴 LIVE IN 5 MINUTES: Sir @JamesCleverly MP and @TiceRichard MP discuss our new report with @ukonward on London's housing crisis and how to fix it.

https://t.co/01gAF0noHu

[Centre for Policy Studies @CPSThinkTank]

London's housing crisis is solvable. The policy levers exist. The political conditions are more favourable than at any point in recent memory. For the centre-right, this is a once-in-a-generation chance to show it can deliver for a generation locked out of homeownership.

Fixing London Housing, the new report from @CPS_thinktank and @Onward_UK with forewords from @policylaila and @JamesCleverly, sets out exactly how:
https://t.co/FQm1NeOLBw

[Centre for Policy Studies @CPSThinkTank]

London has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix its housing crisis.

Last year, the capital started construction on just 4,170 homes, while its population grew by nearly 100,000.

This is the largest housebuilding challenge London has faced since the Second World War. And there's a clear plan to fix it. 🧵

[Centre for Policy Studies @CPSThinkTank]

There's a clear political logic for the centre-right here too.

London is the region with the highest support for new building: 59% in favour, just 14% opposed. Both Reform and the Conservatives perform better the further a constituency is from central London.

Building in London means building where opposition is weakest and need is greatest.