Are the baby boomers really to blame for Britain’s housing crisis?
THE Government has stated it will build 300,000 houses a year to overcome our shortage. This is nonsense! It equates to more than 800 houses every day. The Government has no control over house building. There is a shortage of bricks and not enough builders as school leavers are encouraged to take Mickey Mouse courses at university instead of learning building skills.
BRIAN LLOYD, Haverfordwest, Pembs. SINCE Mrs Thatcher’s council house sell-off, no government has replaced that lost stock. The houses being built today are for sale, though many can’t afford to get on the property ladder. What is really needed is affordable, decent houses to rent. They don’t need to be built in small villages, on the green belt or agricultural land, which is happening all over the country. The baby boomers’ houses may be assets, but they are also our homes. Why should we have to move or downsize when
successive governments have failed in their duty to build low-cost dwellings? Mrs e. HarrINGTON, Bognor regis, W. Sussex.
I WOULD love to downsize, but bungalows are rare as hen’s teeth. How am I to move from a house that is far too big for me to make it available to a young family? Builders should be obliged to build bungalows in new developments, preferably as affordable housing.
GraHaM CarPeNTer, Leominster, Herefordshire. YEARS of ultra-low interest rates have created artificially high prices in the South-East. In the Midlands and the North, prices are far lower. With better infrastructure, jobs could move northwards. And don’t forget the effects of rich foreigners buying up property as an investment. These issues are not the fault of baby boomers, but have been brought about by poor policy making.
DavID C. SMITH, Milton Keynes, Bucks.
I AM a baby boomer with a house I own outright and a pension I paid for, all achieved by financial sacrifices when I was younger. I have managed my life through my own efforts. What do they want me to do? Donate my house to the younger generation and live in a tent? Instead of calling my generation selfish, housing minister Sajid Javid should be looking at rampant profiteering in property development and the rental market.
r. HaveNHaND, Nantwich, Cheshire. UNLESS councils are left in no doubt they face sanctions if they fail in housing provision, things won’t change. You can’t keep cramming developments into towns if you are not allowed to develop on any part of the green belt, such as old airfields. Vast amounts of money are wasted on appeals and inquiries that should be spent on building houses, roads, railways and trading estates.
MIKe Lee, Sheringham, Norfolk.