Some Home Truths

There are not enough houses in Shepway. Regardless of what anyone says. One can argue that 12,000 should not be built at Otterpool Park, but it is impossible to say that we do not need new housing stock, or vacant properties bought back into use.

The 2011 census informs us 108,000 people live in Shepway, of these, close to 85,000 are eligible to vote and there are roughly 50,000 properties

Not everyone can afford there own home as the average (mean) price of a property in Shepway in 2014 was £218,633 and the mean annual earnings is £24,903 (See table below)

The National Housing Federation Home Truths report makes it clear that we need more housing stock. in our part of the world. Yes we live in an area where water is scarcer per person than in Morocco or Egypt. Yes we live in an area where we believe that houses are being built wherever we look, but we need them.

Landlords receive £9.3 billion in housing benefit each year and nearly 50% of this goes to people in work. It demonstrates there has been a failure by both the Conservatives and the Labour Party, to build enough houses for a growing population. The Bed & Breakfast bill paid by Shepway District Council to house people with no homes has been rising for years. In part this is because of the failure by Shepway DC to build houses in the last twenty years.This short sightedness has been part of the problem.

The Table below is stark evidence that houses need to be built in Kent & Shepway, whether we like the idea or not, otherwise rents will keep rising as less housing stock is built. It is that simple. Where we build them is the problem. No-one in there right mind welcomes 12,000 new homes in there backyard, so where do we put them?

District	Average (mean) house prices in 2014	Average (mean) monthly private sector rents in 2013/2014	Mean annual earnings in 2014	Ratio of house prices to incomes	Income required for 80% mortgage 2014 (80% at 3.5x	% of housing benefit claimants in employment in Feb 2015	Unemployment rate (Dec 2014)	Four year shortfall 2011– 2014	Second homes	All longterm vacant stock	Total HA rented homes 2014
Kent	£262,142	£739	£27,492	9.5	£59,918	24.7	5.4	-21,546	8,104	4,458	60,887
Shepway	£218,633	£565	£24,903	8.8	£49,973	21.4%	5.8%	-1,058	1,041	608	2,097
Ashford	£260,863	£763	£25,917	10.1	£59,626	26.1	5.1	-2,182	468	250	2,855
Canterbury	£251,205	£802	£26,556	9.5	£57,418	24.2%	5.8	-2,060	1,093	403	2,913
Thanet	£192,676	£551	£20,327	9.5	£44,040	23.1%	10.1%	-1,961	1,451	748	4,961
Dover	£215,391	£536	£26,572	8.1	£49,232	22.6%	8.1%	-1,056	1,168	436	2,669
Sevenoaks	£433,317	£1,345	£36,171	12.0	£99,044	24.2%	3.7%	-1,722	287	330	7,232
Tunbridge Wells	£355,786	£915	£33,696	10.6	£81,322	29.2%	4.1%	-2,336	348	334	7,386
Swale	£202,640	£655	£25,106	8.1	£46,318	22.3%	6.2%	-2,953	1,690	405	8,708
Maidstone	£255,085	£734	£27,487	9.3	£58,305	26.3%	4.9%	-2,096	161	323	9,017

Regardless of who is driving Otterpool Park, the houses need to be built, if not there then where?

Yes we need to consider the environment.

Yes we need to consider social housing.

Yes we need to consider the views of those affected.

There are too few homes in Shepway & in the UK, usually costing too much, often in the wrong places, and often of poor quality. The crisis damages lives, breaks up families, blights employment prospects, reduces mobility and slows the economy.

The market will not on its own provide. This is not because developers are wicked but because rational self-interest requires that they do not build so much as to flood their own markets, or to expose themselves to excessive risk.

Shepway’s housing crisis, like the UK housing crises is a human disaster.

“The notion that there is no land left really is nonsense,” says David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation. “Nine per cent of the country is developed and that includes roads, factories and so on: only 2% is housing.” The challenge is then to find places that do not affect somebody’s view, somebody’s dog-walking route and somebody’s property prices.

Solutions have been put forward now all we need to do is put them into practice, remembering to mitigate as far as possible those people who will be affected by the development of 12,000 homes at Otterpool Park

Shepwayvox