MULTIPLE HOUSES
There is a need and desire on the part of most architects to address the lack of affordable housing in the UK. Innovative and imaginative solutions are demonstrating how this can be done in spite of deep rooted obstacles.
This dearth of affordable homes to rent and buy throughout the UK is emblematic of historic, political and economic issues:
Land Values (Following the 1946 Town & Country Planning Act local authorities could acquire land for development at “existing use value” However since 1961 the Conservative government introduced the Land Compensation Act which ensures land owners are paid the value of the land, including any “hope value”, when developed).
Land / Property Ownership (Half of England is owned by less than 1% of the population with home ownership accounting for 5% of UK land ownership),
Land Banking (Top 10 housebuilders alone, own or control at least 12 years' worth of housebuilding plots in their current and strategic land banks - There has been no adequate explanation as to why more houses cannot be built sooner).
