Stop or reduce the
ownership of second homes
80% of new homes in
Cornwall are now bought by people outside the county. This really hurts
local people and harms the community. Why people cant rent a house if
they want to holiday there? well its greed isnt it. Now if the local
community ie people living there permanently were given the power to
vote on second homes and say stopped or reduced it this would help local
people enormously. The number could be reduced by a very severe council
tax on second homes
Make it necesary to
have points as well as money to buy a house
Another idea might be
to have zones in towns or regulations about any new homes built
-probably easier -where to buy the home you need a few housing points as
well as the money. ie along the lines of points for social housing but
pointed differently ie you would get points for a local job or local
connection etc.
The house could go to
the family or person with the most housing points. Increases in house
prices could then be limited to a say 2% a year if we decide we want to
allow any increase. In this way the House price mechanism is controlled
and is no longer set by supply and demand. In this way peoples real
standard of living could be boosted, people could afford homes again, no
one loses in reality.
Industry is boosted
because wages will not have to go up so much in the future as people
will be able to work for less but be better off because their main cost
housing will become much less expensive. Less jobs would be exported
overseas. The underlying reason jobs are been exported is that wages are
lower overseas. This is because the cost of living is lower because the
largest cost people have to meet ie the cost of housing is lower.
If we introduced this
people would be able to wait to save up for a home again rather than be
desperate to get on to the housing ladder.
Stamp Duty
Increase stamp duty. But the idea of
regulating the housing market is not to take money away from people it
is to make people better off.
Capital Gains tax
capital gains tax on house sale profits.
But how do you choose the buyer? profits might be hidden from view or
become under the counter. Again the idea of regulating the housing
market is not to take money away from people it is to make people better
off.
Rent controls
Put the housing
benefit subsidy behind the property rather than the person. Restore full
start up grants to housing associations sop they do not have to get the
shortfall back by charging higher rents much of which is paid for by
housing benefit.
Housing Bonds
Building Societies and Banks could have
savings accounts where the money is invested in housing on a regional
basis. In this way the savings account would keep level with the cost of
housing. In this way savers real spending power in the housing market
can be protected. The disadvantage of such investment is that the
financial institutions could push up the cost of housing by increasing
demand.
One idea to
increase the amount of social housing stock available might be
to allow people to leave their homes to local authority housing
departments. In return they could be offered the right for their
children to be housed by the local authority or be given a
generous number of points and their grandchildren to be also
given some housing points. The level of pointing could depend on
the value of the home. So many points for a certain value home.
The person could then give the points they are given as they
wish. they might for example give most to some children and a
few points to others who may already have some points to allow
them enough to be housed. Or they could nominate people they
know to receive these rights or points.
Many people
believe that council tenants should have the right to buy their
homes and for the council to have the right to expect the full
price and to be able to use that money to buy new stock
