An Isle of Wight councillor has slammed the fact that only 7.3% of housing created across the Island last year could be classed as affordable.
At a Corporate Scrutiny Committee in Newport on Tuesday, Councillor Paul Fuller said the situation, evidenced by the council’s planning policy department, was “not good enough” and could be “a lot better”.
Chair of the committee Councillor Clare Mosdell echoed the representative for Cowes West and Gurnard’s concerns:
“I sat through a planning committee and listened to the committee being quite frustrated about a planning application that was going through that was going to be affordable housing.
“But it was a percentage of what those houses were going to be at the market rate – those houses were going to go on the market for £400,000.
“There is no stretch of the imagination that that is going to be affordable for young people on the salaries that they are here.
“It is only affordable if you work it back the other way – what is the average salary for a young couple?
“Can they afford to buy somewhere? Most of the time the answer is no.”
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Cllr Fuller added:
“Totally agree. There was a consultation the government had on the new National Planning Policy Framework and one of the comments I made was that we are different on the Island.
“The house prices on the Island are the average within the country. However, our salaries are a lot lower and trying to buy houses is not an option for a lot of people.
“So really our focus needs to be on private renting through housing associations.”
Cllr Geoff Brodie, who represents Pan and Barton, said:
“One of the things I’ve repeatedly asked of the cabinet member (for housing), Cllr Stephens, is for members to have a briefing on the whole concept of affordability, tenure and social housing – I believe there’s a lot of misunderstanding.
“I’d like to see socially rented housing, provided by this council ideally. Portsmouth are doing it and they’ve got the same director of finance as us.”
Housing affordability is one of the council’s 6 ‘strategic housing priorities’, according to its Isle of Wight Housing Strategy 2020 – 2025 document.
The strategy’s vision for housing is:
“To enable everyone living on the Island to have a place they call home and can live with independence.”
A council spokesperson said:
“The Isle of Wight Council recognises the issues faced and is absolutely committed to the delivery of affordable housing, in line with its Corporate Plan and priorities, and it is doing this in several ways.
“It is permitting new housing, where developers are required to build the affordable housing as part of the planning permission.
“The council can also aid the delivery of affordable housing by increasing the pipeline of affordable houses by making allocations in its local plan.
“The draft Island Planning Strategy, which the council will shortly be submitting to the Planning Inspectorate, would, through the proposed allocations increase the pipeline by facilitating 1,200 new affordable houses.
“Finally, the council is disposing of sites it owns for affordable housing and has successfully applied for grants to deal with some of the exceptional costs on these sites, making the delivery more financially viable.”
Easy Answer do not let developers build new
Properties unless they build affordable housing.
developers, are not able to build affordable housing, they are a business, they need to make a profit and so they should they are the ones taking the risk. Unless you are a developer you don’t seem to realise the cost of building house, plans, materials, Labour, landscaping plus all the trades that come in. If they gave up the luxuries as they had to years ago, they could afford to buy a house, when my grandparents and parents bought their houses it was the same issue.
Tosh. Houses at the affordable end of the spectrum do not need double garages, huge plots, 3 bathrooms, orangeries and gold-plated taps. Why are builders not adopting modular construction? Could it be because there is less opportunity for massive profits?
If I was building a house I would want maximum profit. I not sure when you last walked into a new build house, but it it nothing like you describe, high end or low end.i think those who can not even afford low end, still want high end, but without the extra cost.
A problem is a high number of residents who call for affordable housing actually want free housing which is what they will get if the council build them.
If you don’t earn enough to buy or rent a property because your wages are low, then move to an area where the situation may improve. If that means off the island well that is no different from many generations of “Islanders”, Londoners, Scousers, Welsh etc etc.
There is absolutely no need to build any more new houses until the 2500+ properties on Rightmove on the island are sold. That figure includes hundreds of “affordable” houses that have been built and are not selling.
Part of the problem is new properties being purchased by second home owners and/or people who use them for Airbnb which means not enough rental properties are coming to market and as a result rental rates and house prices remain too high for island people who really need a home. Also the Island has a too many second homes and Airbnb properties which dilute the available housing stock for local people
A number of things need to happen.
Houses, like everything else, are priced to the market. That market is driven by those who already have property (often multiple properties) and by selling agents with an obvious interest.
This won’t be solved until a bold government puts a brake on the cycle of price hikes. One way would be to extend Capital Gains Tax to include a “main home”, subject to allowance for general inflation and genuine, necessary improvements.
Is this government bold enough?
Maybe if the council started building houses again, they could build affordable houses for rent or sale.
Carry on moaning about private housebuilders not building enough so called affordable homes, it deflects nicely away from the council not building any social housing which is their role.