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Topic: Re:Re:Re:Re:Affordable Housing (or lack of it)
Posted by: Will Watson
Date/Time: 28/05/15 13:06:00

I agree with Vanessa “affordable” is a red herring.

When I came to London from the Lancashire mill town of my youth I could just afford a flat in Bayswater on a very modest salary.

By the time my mate came down a few years later he could only afford a flat in Chiswick.

I couldn’t afford to buy my own house now (based on my income) but where my daughter is buying in Sutton / Carshalton is still relatively affordable for her.

Why is there this sense that people should be provided with affordable housing wherever they feel like living?

I would quite like to live in Mayfair and obviously not in some pokey two bed flat – where is my affordable housing?

Just see the NIMBY rage that fires up when some “evil” developer wants to put up a minor tower of flats at the west end of the High Road and you can see why there is no great increase in the number of dwellings in our neck of the woods. As long as there are less homes than there are households looking for homes, in a given area, the price is bound to go up.

I don’t really see why some people should be made a special case. It causes distortions in the market for jobs – if there were no people who could afford to live near enough to Chiswick to do low paid jobs then the pay rates for those jobs would rise bringing things to a different equilibrium.

Another alternative, despised by some but embraced by others, is for people to live together in more concentrated households as we used to do early in the last century – it’s a choice.


Entire Thread
TopicDate PostedPosted By
Affordable Housing (or lack of it)28/05/15 05:14:00 Philippa Bond
   Re:Affordable Housing (or lack of it)28/05/15 11:39:00 Adrian Irving
      Re:Re:Affordable Housing (or lack of it)28/05/15 11:59:00 Loraine Pemberton
         Re:Re:Re:Affordable Housing (or lack of it)28/05/15 12:53:00 Vanessa Smith
            Re:Re:Re:Re:Affordable Housing (or lack of it)28/05/15 13:06:00 Will Watson
               Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Affordable Housing (or lack of it)28/05/15 13:43:00 Adrian Irving
                  Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Affordable Housing (or lack of it)28/05/15 14:09:00 Will Watson
                     Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Affordable Housing (or lack of it)28/05/15 14:15:00 Philippa Bond
                     Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Affordable Housing (or lack of it)28/05/15 14:20:00 Adrian Irving
                  Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Affordable Housing (or lack of it)28/05/15 14:34:00 Adrian Irving

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