Lucas Blasco Argullós is a postgraduate student at the London School of Economics and Policy Fellow of The Pinsker Centre, a campus-based think tank which facilitates discussion on global affairs and free speech. The views in this article are the author’s own. For decades, the dream of home ownership was not merely an Read more…
Introduction It is a truth universally acknowledged that housing supply in the UK desperately needs a boost. The question on policymakers’ minds is how to do this in a pragmatic and sustainable way. One potential solution? Full expensing in the housebuilding sector. Along with the Adam Smith Institute, PricedOut has Read more…
Edinburgh Council recently declared a housing emergency amidst rising levels of homelessness and skyrocketing private rents. Rents have doubled since 2011 and have risen faster than any other UK city in the past year. In recent years, the average detached house has appreciated by more per annum than the average worker has earned after tax. Edinburgh’s crisis comes despite Read more…
On Wednesday, an honourable endeavour within the House of Lords to reinstate housing targets was defeated. Consequently, the revival of housing targets under this Conservative Government seems highly unlikely. However, what’s surprising is the role played by the Lib Dems in obstructing this effort. A party ostensibly guided by principles Read more…
Picture this: you’re casually scrolling through Twitter, ready to retweet cat videos and like memes, when suddenly, a house listing stops you in your tracks. “Is this a joke?” you wonder aloud, squinting at the screen. But as reality sinks in, you realise it’s no laughing matter. In the labyrinth Read more…
Michael Gove’s speech a few days ago set out a radical plan for which will be music to YIMBY ears: an ambitious raft of housebuilding—where people want to live—to be combined with public services, active travel, and, in the much-discussed case of Cambridge, lab space. This isn’t the first time Read more…
There is a shadow war going on inside the green movement, pitting climate against the environment. The debate on whether to sacrifice woodland for the long-term carbon benefits of HS2 is one of the loudest battles in this ongoing conflict. However, similar arguments are raging across the country on a Read more…
As Sadiq Khan gears up for the 2024 Mayoral Election, his recent announcement that London has surpassed its affordable housing targets deserves to be celebrated not just as good policy, but also smart politics. At a national level both Labour and the Conservatives have been sparring this week over their Read more…
Rob Smith is a public affairs professional specialising in property and planning, currently serving as Chair of Kingston Conservatives. Let me give you my vision: A man’s right to work as he will, to spend what he earns, to own property, and to have the state as servant and not Read more…
With nary a hint of self-awareness, the self-styled “hard man of Brexit” Steve Baker MP recently tweeted a video diatribe against the imminent expansion of the London Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). Baker—whose constituency is roughly the same distance from London as England is to France—saw no irony in complaining about Read more…