Conservative housing strategy - a minor solution for a major problem

From the Prime Minister’s interviews on political shows to Sajid Javid’s speech to delegates, the party seemed keen to make it clear that housing was a key priority. Two announcements were made to illustrate this. One - an extra £10 billion would be pumped into Help to Buy and two, an extra £2.5 million would be injected into the garden city initiative.

First let me say that any steps towards addressing the housing crisis are a step in the right direction and it’s good to see the issue playing a part in the conference. However, I don’t feel that either of these schemes will have any impact on the ever developing housing crisis.

Help to Buy is a short term fix that will essentially have long term implications. Helping buyers onto the ladder in this way will only inflate prices and therefore exacerbate the problem for generations to come.

Meanwhile, the garden city funding will provide 155,000 new houses - a drop in the ocean compared to what is really needed right now.

While the party should be applauded for prioritising housing I can’t help but wonder ‘Is that the best you can do?’ and, as I’m sure it’s not, it leaves me sceptical as to whether these minor solutions for such a major problem are meant as some distraction, to placate us for some time without actually addressing the issue. Real action needs to be taken now.