In terms of the housing agenda there was a lot of fringe time allocated to this vital topic; it is clear that the Liberal Democrats recognise that there is a housing crisis and that it is central to the coalition government’s agenda to attempt to solve it.
Vince Cable talked in his speech about the need to ‘meet the enormous challenge of house building’ and that ‘demand growth has been outstripping supply, driving up rents and prices’.
This is absolutely true. For decades now we have been building insufficient homes for our growing population and its changing housing needs. The government’s Help to Buy equity loan scheme has certainly helped in this regard by encouraging developers to build more homes, but we must recognise that there is a time lag between increasing confidence and builders breaking ground on new sites.
Developers tell me that they have increased supply, that the only land banks they are not developing are financially unviable and that they are seeking sites and planning permissions for development in 2016.
The atmosphere inside was certainly not helped by the layout of the centre; the main conference hall was situated, quite handily, just inside the centre entrance, however the exhibition though was a good five minute walk away through rabbit warren-like corridors off which an array of fringe meetings were held. It was unsurprising therefore that the exhibition hall, usually a hotbed of conversations and debate, was eerily quiet and there wasn’t even the usual scrum when a seat became available.
I attended a range of housing-related fringe meetings at the conference, the most notable was on Monday evening where communities minister Don Foster announced that community led affordable housing projects could apply for a share of £65m from the Affordable Homes Guarantees Programme and that new planning practice guidance will be introduced to ensure councils identify the demand for self-build in their area.
This was surprising, as it is an unusual step for a government policy to be announced in a fringe meeting of a party conference.
There was lots of chatter around the fringes on the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, with some asserting that it will provide the foundations for the recovery whereas others believed it would create a housing bubble and should be scrapped.
I agree with Don Foster when he said that ‘it is important that the government fully assesses the economic circumstances prior to launch’. The housing and mortgage markets have progressed greatly since the announcement of Help to Buy mortgage guarantee and it is good practice with any intervention to ensure ahead of launch that it will deliver the intended benefits without unintended consequences.
Paul Broadhead is head of mortgage policy at the BSA
