tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17101458.post5297105373946089636..comments2023-10-31T15:14:05.373+00:00Comments on Hagley Road To Ladywood: "Weekly grocery bill of £420"?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17101458.post-40223312833048385412010-03-12T12:34:56.841+00:002010-03-12T12:34:56.841+00:00I concur with Ben E's comment above.
This is ...I concur with Ben E's comment above.<br /><br />This is a political problem as well as a cultural one. The way home ownership was peddled as the be all and end all of one's life, regardless of all the risks associated with it.<br /><br />Something that is rarely mentioned regarding Thatcherism is the boom in repossessions that followed the right-to-buy orgy of the early to mid 1980s.<br /><br />The pro-Tory tabloids may love to go on about dodgy council estates but they're never going to question how and when the dilapidation and underfunding began.<br /><br />Labour continued along the same lines. The property bubble and speculation was actively marketed as inherently good and copious quantities of blinkers were handed out whenever anyone highlighted the huge dangers associated with it. <br /><br />I would love to see comparative figures for repossessions. IMHO a first-world self-professed civilised country cannot allow repossessions to take place at such a level.Stan Mosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08877204795536395407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17101458.post-58470222125666401062010-03-12T11:46:12.807+00:002010-03-12T11:46:12.807+00:00According to this report, in 2004 there were 860,0...According to <a href="http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/48347/PP35-empty_homes.pdf" rel="nofollow">this report</a>, in 2004 there were 860,000 empty homes across the UK. This was at a time when the <a href="http://www.crisis.org.uk/pages/about-hidden-homelessness.html" rel="nofollow">hidden homeless</a> population was around 400,000. I suspect that buy-to-let and second properties also run into the hundreds of thousands.<br /><br />This is one of the areas where taxation could make a real difference. If it were less affordable to own a second home then less people would do it. Not only would the taxation subsidise the building of more Local Authority housing but reduced demand for overpriced housing would bring the cost down.<br /><br />I personally think that the property 'boom' is a significant contributor to the wealth divide. Those who were fortunate enough to own their property before it started will always be better off than the people unfortunate enough to be born 20 years later. If only we could just get back to thinking of houses as homes instead of a high-earning pension plan.Ben Enoreply@blogger.com