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Ian Clark's avatar

Assuming (please god) that Labour get in they will need at least two terms to effect any meaningful change - and after ten years a reorganised tory party, if in government, will very likely just start undoing it all (again). Not a way even to run a whelk stall

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Simon Carne's avatar

As soon as I heard the word immigration in reference to housing crisis I knew we were back on the BBC political agenda as dictated by right wing ‘think tanks’

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PZE's avatar

Interesting question is where would you go? The housing crisis is actually quite widespread. There was a fascinating article in the Guardian about the issue in the Netherlands (https://www.theguardian.com/news/article/2024/may/06/netherlands-amsterdam-next-level-housing-crisis) and another report from a UN Expert about how the lack of affordable housing is leading to a potential right wing rise (https://www.theguardian.com/news/article/2024/may/06/fix-europe-housing-crisis-risk-fuelling-far-right-un-expert-warns). Australia and NZ have seen huge house price rises, and the US while having pockets of affordability these are not where the jobs are.

What is called for is political courage and leadership (so no point looking at the Tories), to address the issues of nimbyism, outdated planning laws and limiting property rises. It's not an impossible task, but it is a very difficult one.

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