THE QUESTION
Why is housing unaffordable here?
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The people worst affected are never in the room
To be precise: this is about the situation, not a person.
Nothing said yet.
The last time this city built at scale it was after a war
Landlords price on what the market will bear, not on cost
I mean this happens weekly, not once in a while.
cluster 3discussing (1)
A single objection can delay a scheme by two years
Scope: here specifically, not everywhere.
Housing benefit sets a floor under rents
Narrower than it reads; the wider version is someone else's card.
Renters move too often to vote here
Infrastructure is promised and arrives a decade late
Nobody in the planning office has ever built anything
Parking minimums use land that could be homes
Every scheme is judged on its own, never on the total
Observed, not measured — I would want the data too.
Every year of delay is a year of someone's life
Nobody counts how many homes are actually empty
Scope: here specifically, not everywhere.
cluster 1discuss
Small builders cannot carry the cost of the permission process
I mean this happens weekly, not once in a while.
Social housing stock was sold and never replaced
Narrower than it reads; the wider version is someone else's card.
cluster 2discuss
The green belt is a line drawn in 1955 and never re-examined
Scope: here specifically, not everywhere.
We measure planning approvals, not homes completed
Narrower than it reads; the wider version is someone else's card.
Short lets pay more than a tenancy, so flats leave the market
Materials and labour both cost what they did at peak
cluster 3discuss
The bus does not reach the land that is cheap
Skilled trades left during the last downturn and did not come back
Observed, not measured — I would want the data too.
The word 'affordable' means eighty per cent of a price nobody can pay
Narrower than it reads; the wider version is someone else's card.
cluster 4discuss
Converting an office costs more than building new
Meaning the recurring case, not one incident.
Land is bought to hold, not to build on
The people worst affected are never in the room
To be precise: this is about the situation, not a person.
The affordable quota is negotiated away after approval
Three firms build most of what gets built here
A four-year term is shorter than a building
Nobody is responsible for housing outcomes, only for process
Scope: here specifically, not everywhere.
A deposit now takes a decade to save
Nobody has costed what the housing crisis does to the health service
To be precise: this is about the situation, not a person.
Councils cannot borrow to build at the scale needed
I mean this happens weekly, not once in a while.
cluster 2discuss
Empty flats are worth more than let ones to some owners
The viability assessment is written by the developer
The people who object to building already own here
Nobody can afford to live where the work is
I mean this happens weekly, not once in a while.
cluster 4discuss
The city has no number for how many homes it needs
cluster 1discuss
Offices sit empty while flats are unaffordable
Grant funding arrives in one-year cycles, so nothing long is planned
Observed, not measured — I would want the data too.