Housing and Communities Board response to housing needs assessment

[HiVibes]

Get a few of them flat pack house for the oldies, site them on a field next to the hospital so they don't even need to get a bus, force them to sell of their houses cheap to young people, housing crisis sorted.

[Kopek]

Said Pol Pot!

[HiVibes]

21 minutes ago, Kopek said:

Said Pol Pot!

Hardly like I am suggesting bulldozing them into mass graves, just a bit logic and compassion.

[Moghrey Mie]

1 hour ago, Banker said:

Guernsey solution includes allowing visiting workers and locals to live in temporary housing, TT village all year around?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp35kvl7r1yo

They've had Rent a Room for several years in England.

The first £7,500 you receive in rent is TAX FREE.

No incentives like that over here.

https://www.gov.uk/rent-room-in-your-home/the-rent-a-room-scheme

 

[Two-lane]

45 minutes ago, HiVibes said:

Get a few of them flat pack house for the oldies, site them on a field next to the hospital so they don't even need to get a bus, force them to sell of their houses cheap to young people, housing crisis sorted.

That is hardly a radical solution. I would favour forcing MHKs to sell their houses cheap, and make them live in the gov. building underground car park. The area is protected from rain. Luxury. They could live in the cardboard boxes the flat-pack houses come in. And they would be charged rent - the tax payer would then be getting some income from that car park.

[HiVibes]

13 minutes ago, Two-lane said:

That is hardly a radical solution. I would favour forcing MHKs to sell their houses cheap, and make them live in the gov. building underground car park. The area is protected from rain. Luxury. They could live in the cardboard boxes the flat-pack houses come in. And they would be charged rent - the tax payer would then be getting some income from that car park.

I don't think you grasp the concept, a nice clean low carbon paradise for the old folk with all their needs met on site, no more moaning about buses or fantasies of getting knocked off the pavement by cyclists, they would love it there.

[Max Power]

The problem with social housing, or the shortage of, is that house building costs are so high now that the opportunity which existed twenty years ago is lost. I'm unsure how high prices and costs are going to go in future, or if they will come down to realistic levels? I know that I have lived through two severe price crashes in my property owning life.

[Banker]

51 minutes ago, Max Power said:

The problem with social housing, or the shortage of, is that house building costs are so high now that the opportunity which existed twenty years ago is lost. I'm unsure how high prices and costs are going to go in future, or if they will come down to realistic levels? I know that I have lived through two severe price crashes in my property owning life.

The land is a major cost and Government own loads of it so that cost is zero, pulrose golf course is one area plus all the brownfield sites 

 

[Mercenary]

4 hours ago, Burns said:

It also gives the most insincere nod to one  of, in my opinion, the most problematic aspects of housing on the island which is the rampant and uncontrolled private market and by extension the none existent controls or analysis of people purchasing multiple properties which which to create their own rental empires, I've only heard anecdotally that this is occurring but it should most definitely be a concern, I'd go even further to say that if it was found that a number of properties are rented and owned by external factions then a policy must be considered to restrict the sale of homes on the island to people with a direct interest in the island at the very least, and impose a housing ringfenced "second home" tax at the worst.

Why are "rental empires" a bad thing? Additional controls/restrictions would reduce the stock of rentals even further, reduce rental housing standards and raise prices. We should be trying to achieve the opposite, the state of the rental market has a large detrimental impact to many young families and vulnerable people, and also makes the IoM much less attractive for people moving to the Island.

[Burns]

On 11/29/2024 at 9:28 PM, Mercenary said:

Why are "rental empires" a bad thing? Additional controls/restrictions would reduce the stock of rentals even further, reduce rental housing standards and raise prices. We should be trying to achieve the opposite, the state of the rental market has a large detrimental impact to many young families and vulnerable people, and also makes the IoM much less attractive for people moving to the Island.

I would say you're right that restrictions and controls would reduce the stock of rentals, but it would increase the stock of purchasable property and quite possibly drive housing prices down to perhaps a more affordable level for off and on island prospects, I know when I moved over my plan was to commit to living on the island and purchasing was the more realistic option, this could just be a personal thing but I've always considered rental as a short term temporary solution and if I wasn't able to purchase I probably wouldn't have seen a future here.

I rambled slightly there but my point is, purchasable property being swallowed by "rental empires" hedging people out of being able to purchase property because of the artificial scarcity they create that results in prices being driven higher wouldn't, in my opinion, beneficial to the Island.

[Harry Lamb]

I asked ChatGPT for some ideas (below). Not all of them are workable, but some could be implemented and others developed and refined. Government currently is doing next to nothing except to produce unambitious policy documents.

1. Restrict Second-Home Ownership and Speculative Buying
Higher Taxes on Second Homes: Introduce or increase taxes on second homes, especially in areas with housing shortages. Funds could be redirected to social housing projects.
Caps on Holiday Lets: Restrict the number of properties that can be used for short-term rentals in certain areas to ensure more homes remain available for local residents.
Local Buyer Priority: Implement policies that give priority to local first-time buyers, such as limiting sales of new developments to local residents for a fixed period.
2. Regulate the Private Rental Market
Rent Caps or Controls: Introduce rent controls to prevent excessive rental increases and make housing more affordable for young people.
Incentivize Long-Term Rentals: Offer tax incentives for landlords who commit to long-term rentals at affordable rates.
Stronger Tenant Protections: Strengthen regulations to provide stability and rights for renters, making renting a viable long-term option.
3. Encourage Social Housing Development
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs): Collaborate with private developers to build affordable housing on government-owned land, with conditions ensuring affordability and sustainability.
Incentives for Affordable Housing: Offer tax breaks or reduced land costs for developers who include affordable housing in their projects.
Empower Housing Associations: Increase funding or enable housing associations to access government-owned land for social housing projects.
4. Unlock Brownfield and Government Land
Streamline Planning for Affordable Housing: Simplify planning regulations for developing affordable housing on brownfield and government-owned sites.
Land Value Capture: Use policies to capture the increased value of land due to zoning changes, directing funds to affordable housing development.
Modular or Prefabricated Housing: Promote the use of cost-effective, quick-to-build modular homes on these sites.
5. Expand Access to Homeownership
Shared Ownership Models: Enable young people to part-own properties with government or housing associations until they can afford full ownership.
Help-to-Buy Schemes: Provide low-interest loans or grants for first-time buyers.
Community Land Trusts: Encourage locally managed trusts that secure land for affordable housing in perpetuity.
6. Enhance Funding for Housing
Infrastructure Levies: Introduce levies on new commercial developments to fund local housing projects.
Green Investment Initiatives: Attract investments into housing projects by highlighting their environmental sustainability (e.g., retrofitting old homes or building eco-friendly housing).
Devolved Funding Powers: Allow local authorities more power to raise and allocate funds for housing initiatives.
7. Engage the Community
Support Self-Build Projects: Encourage young people to participate in self-build or cooperative housing projects with government or nonprofit backing.
Public Consultations: Work with communities to address resistance to new developments by emphasizing local benefits and ensuring designs fit the area’s character.
Long-Term Considerations
Educational Programs: Teach financial literacy and savings strategies to help young people prepare for homeownership.
Sustainability Integration: Focus on energy-efficient and eco-friendly housing to lower long-term costs for residents.
This multifaceted approach balances immediate relief with sustainable, community-centered solutions, addressing both supply and affordability challenges.

[Moghrey Mie]

For goodness sake! Don't tell our politicians to use logic and clear policies. They'll be out of jobs. Everything must take yeeeeeears and be complicated because 'things are different on the Isle of Man'.

[Tinpot]

On 11/29/2024 at 7:54 PM, Banker said:

The land is a major cost and Government own loads of it so that cost is zero, pulrose golf course is one area plus all the brownfield sites 

 

The land is a much smaller percentage of overall cost than it was five years ago.

The land prices haven’t risen anywhere near what the cost to build has.

[Mercenary]

7 hours ago, Burns said:

I would say you're right that restrictions and controls would reduce the stock of rentals, but it would increase the stock of purchasable property and quite possibly drive housing prices down to perhaps a more affordable level for off and on island prospects, I know when I moved over my plan was to commit to living on the island and purchasing was the more realistic option, this could just be a personal thing but I've always considered rental as a short term temporary solution and if I wasn't able to purchase I probably wouldn't have seen a future here.

I rambled slightly there but my point is, purchasable property being swallowed by "rental empires" hedging people out of being able to purchase property because of the artificial scarcity they create that results in prices being driven higher wouldn't, in my opinion, beneficial to the Island.

Rental market is already probably worse than the general housing market - trying to take rental properties away would hit an area of the population very hard, and likely still have minimal impact on house prices.

[Banker]

Perhaps we need something like Jersey where all the social housing is controlled centrally by am arm’s length company, probably what is planned for MDC in due course

https://www.channel103.com/news/jersey/andium-secures-100m-investment-for-new-homes/