Many readers will be aware that being a private sector tenant is quite normal in Germany, without the stigma it carries here. Some may also have heard of recent measures in Berlin to cap private sector rents. In due course we should see their long term impact, but looking at policy over the last 50… Continue reading What Germany can teach us about renting
Category: Housing
“Wutbürger” – The German for NIMBY
Originally posted in the Sydenham Town Forum, 30 June, 2013 Last week’s uncharacteristic radio silence was thanks to cycling round Normandy. With my rusting French revived, I came across an interesting article in Le Monde on the way back, dealing with a report into the sorts of people who in 2010 gave German this new ‘word of the year’,… Continue reading “Wutbürger” – The German for NIMBY
We need more evidence on tenure and occupancy
It is sometimes argued that policy changes which affect landlords can have no effect on the balance of supply and demand for tenants because the properties which may move between being rented and owner occupation will still exist, and will be occupied all the same. See for example these recent tweets
Flooding, engineering, planning and politics
Reposted from my local Forum, 16 Jan, 2014, with a more helpful title, and some editing. It rambles a bit, but putting here now because it touches on various questions which arose yesterday (July 25, 2018) when I attended a consultation event on ‘De-risking’ growth in the Cambridge Milton Keynes Oxford arc. I’m thinking about… Continue reading Flooding, engineering, planning and politics
South Anywhere County Development Corporation / Equity for land rights funding
Rather than purchase land for some monetary amount, compulsorily or otherwise, and load local authorities / development corporations with debt, a South Anywhere County Development Corporation (SACDC) would issue equity to landowners whose land was affected by the JSP, in exchange for rights SACDC acquired over the land.
How to fix the rental market for real
we need an understanding that better ways are needed for setting rents on longer term tenancies, that these will need the buy in of landlords and their agents, and that they will involve an accurate reflection of local market rents. The history of their development in Germany suggests they were pioneered at a municipal level… Continue reading How to fix the rental market for real
How do we feel about renting?
I am the child on the left here, feeling at home in the rented sector, and where my Dad to this day feels at home. In a few days we’ll be celebrating Christmas there again, now with grown up grandchildren.
Self-build, Community Land Trusts and the Housing Crisis
What follows isn’t meant as opinion, but an attempt to research the extent to which self-build and Community Land Trusts have a role in helping solve the housing crisis. Writing it, I find I want to research more, and ask questions of various contacts who know more about aspects of the subject than me. So,… Continue reading Self-build, Community Land Trusts and the Housing Crisis
A solution to the asset rich, cash poor problem
This is something I wrote last year, but didn’t publish. I just saw a tweet to which it seems relevant, so with some minor changes I’m publishing it here now. On rereading, I feel it deserves a more thorough rewrite, but I think the central idea, a revenue neutral, non market distorting change to the… Continue reading A solution to the asset rich, cash poor problem
The Long Short for Generation Rent
How are Generation Renters supposed to get on with their lives when housing is so unaffordable that they have no realistic hope of buying their own property – and quite possibly would be ill advised to do so anyway? It’s an agonising personal question for millions of young people, but I’m not aware of any… Continue reading The Long Short for Generation Rent