Housing

Boris used to go overseas promoting uk housing as a great foreign investment which was a ridiculous idea with our lack of affordable homes.

can you support legislation that you must be a uk resident to purchase property here.

all the big house builders need to be forced to make their new builds greener by law; solar, grey water recycling, etc rather than just knocking up cheap poorly built rabbit hutches that'll last 30 years before needing to be demolished 

All efforts should be made in this planning to ensure new homes are built to the most energy efficient and environmentally friendly standards - as well as budget or help (for example interest free loan schemes and trusted suppliers) to help existing home become more energy efficient/ green (insulation, double glazing, solar panels etc). Residents should bear some or all of the cost, but it should be incentivised and made easy/ financially simple.

A lot of time, money, attention is paid to the young and first time buyers (not necessarily the same thing), affordabiltiy etc. I agree with this as a very high priority but think a more multi-generational approach should be taken. One of the big problems is 'bed blocking' in the housing market. Whereas in theory people get onto the ladder and then move up/out/on in fact there is a silting up - because people can't afford to move. One solution is to expand the house eg the loft conversion bonanza. But this only works for some householders etc. Silting also happens with older, retired, semi-retired people etc. not moving out/on to smaller scale housing/into flats. This seems to happen near the end of life/very late. Why not push for this for middle aged people. Could more be done eg in messaging and social pressure as well as actual housing schemes, to facilitate them to move? Could housing schemes be built to be more multigenerational not just for young professionals. Could there be more thought about designing in communal areas etc. as a consistent standard, not just only in a few blocks/a few schemes. Could every new development be required to contain 2-3 units - not as affordable housing - but council owned emergency accomodation. 

Like any other big/metropolitan city there are some common ares.

Tackle benefit fraudsters. There are so many money beggars claiming money for an accommodation, when reality is that they have one. Those people are ruining any effort to help the true homeless people. There are so many people living in affordable housing who are capable to work and yet do not contribute to the system at all and claim benefits.

Do not sell London land to greedy developers, who push people out of their current accommodations, destroy communities and then sell new build at an extortionate price. Are we sure there is a shortage of houses? How many properties have been built in London and yet are empty? how many properties have been newly built and sold to investors so that they can bring those back to the market at extortionate rent?

Get rid of the lease system. This is an unfair system for anyone buying their property, because despite paying for their mortgage the property will never be theirs because of the lease system, requiring an extortionate amount to renew/extent the lease. The Help to Buy scheme is also an unfair system, contributing to price increases, so that the government can cash in on the profit, while the homeowner is trapped in a most likely higher debt.

I have rented for several years and was paying cash for most of this time. My rent did not increase, however i was paying cash every month for my rent and bills. Do you think that my landlord was paying taxes from the income of my cash rent? I doubt it,yet there is limited control on the private renting and no punishment for unfair landlord. I have seen entire families living in one room in a shared house. How is this fair? Making the renting system affordable - rent should not exceed 30% of one's income. In this way, people on any income can still afford to pay for anything else needed. Services, school and public transport should be within each means.

If you crack down on Benefit fraud you will need less housing.

There are many examples of people pretending to be single who have a partner living with them or visiting for several nights of week.  I met 1 prospective tenant who wanted me to do 2 tenancies so she had one saying she lived there alone to claim Housing Benefit.

Crack down on those saying they are homeless who are supposed to be staying in B&B's but only go to sign the register.

Encourage more people to work full time as there are many people still working 16 hours a week so they get Housing Benefit.

Investigate restaurants paying cash to their employees I regularly get told about this by prospective tenants DWP not interested unless you know their home address.

In line with sustainable development please encourage more building development with minimum carbon footprint. Take example on the 'bosco verticale' (vertical forest) in Milan! More like these and make sure it remains accessible for an average London salary!

The Economist lead article is about the ways home ownership obsession is damaging society, especially our young people. If rents were stable, and long-term contracts were possible, and annual rent increases were abolished, then people would have stable housing without the pressure of ownership. In Vancouver, Canada, there is a co-op housing system that works very well and keeps rents affordable - not super low like social housing, but manageable for professionals like teachers and public sector workers. London could certainly adopt this model. 

I have always been a renter, always paid my rent on time, never damaged a property. Why does my landlord need to raise the rent every year to 'keep up with the market' when he's not paying any more for the property? While I'm taking care of the house, cleaning the gutters, mending the fence etc. The UK needs a new model for renting. London could lead the way. 

Property developers are the biggest problem buying up land and not building until prices are high. Sitting on planning committees of local authorities.

If government say concentrate on middle incomes and you class that as £80k it means anyone  working in shops, public services , cleaning officers servicing the city will have to live so far away London  will die 

Although additional housing is vital, more thought must be given to how new residents are supposed to get around in London. Underground trains are already crammed with passengers at peak times and all Boroughs appear to be actively discouraging the use of cars. I live in LB Merton and the roads are simply not built for the volume and size of the traffic. Some of the container trucks are HUGE!! I see long convoys of buses waiting behind vehicles that are simply too big for London's roads.

Build more affordable housing but more thought must be given as to how these extra residents are supposed to actually live and get around.

I agree totally with Mandycb, more social housing is what we need.

My daughter who is training and working full time cannot afford private rent, or part buy part rent as the deposits are so high.

We need affordable housing to mean affordable, the other issue I have is where I live in social housing, there are some tenants living in three bed properties with only one person in them, how can that possibly be right. The council know about it, as they have housed other family members of there's who were previously living there.

Someone with common sense and half a brain, needs to sort a system to enable families to move to properties that suit their needs more, rather than allowing one occupant to stay in a property way too large for them!!!!!!!!!!!!

Help our youngsters that are working and paying taxes, to have an opportunity to get social housing and be prepared to pay rent, rather than the ones who don't work, so hence don't pay any rent but get housed, so so wrong!!!!!!!!!

I would like to see planning restrictions eased near tube stations and along bus routes feeding tube stations so that more properties can be built to increase the supply of housing for people commuting to work in London.

This has been a missed opportunity which could improve the lives of Londoners.

Affordable housing is not what we need as it does not help those in need,ie low income families and single people.we need social housing and STOP selling council houses it's ridiculous,if someone wishes and can afford to buy their council home then maybe give or loan them a deposit on a private sale, that way their old home stays within the council/housing association stock.insread of having to build new housing to replace those bought by tenants,Surely common sense is needed,WE NEED SOCIAL HOUSING at rent most people can afford,people would then have either more money to spend in our economy or not be in such desperate circumstances they wouldn't be costing social care,mental health/ and the nhs so much.

House should be a place for living, not for making money, this could be controlled by government, I see houses empty for investment, I see people with no place to stay, it is not short of houses in the city, it is lack of concern by the government, or may be short of solution( not in the position, my talking might be wrong). I wish everyone who is hard working should have a safe place to stay, anyone who is bad luck could have support from the government.

hope 2020 is a better year for everyone, God bless us all.

- Agree with the comments about the inappropriate usage of "affordable"

- Tackle unfair and intransparent property management companies

- Start lobbying for leasehold to be abolished in favour of freehold or commonhold

you need to build or make developers build more affordable homes. 

Please stop people buying homes that lie empty and do something about all the empty homes in London

Make it easier for self builders to buy small plots that developers don't want. 

The Mayor's Annual Monitoring Reports (AMRs) should "do what they say on the tin": they should annually monitor what is happening with housing in London. They do not.

Southwark Council's website on housing states: "According to LDD [London Development Database], demolished housing units are recorded only when the redevelopment on the same sites complete in their entirety (including any non-residential elements on the same site)."

This means that more than 940 council homes LOST on the Heygate Estate several years ago, and more than 500 council homes LOST on the Aylesbury Estate, so far, have not yet been recorded in the Mayor's Annual Monitoring Reports.

The Mayor's Annual Monitoring Reports then present the perverse results that Southwark Council has been adding social rented homes in the borough over a period of several years, whereas the reality is that Southwark Council has been destroying social rented homes in the borough on an industrial scale: Government Live Table 116 shows that Southwark lost 540 from its stock from 2014 to 2018.

The Annual Monitoring Reports may present 'the truth' in a literal sense, but by excluding annual demolitions of council homes as they happen, the Annual Monitoring Reports don't present the whole truth. The whole truth is what matters: anything less is ripe for propaganda.

The scale of London's chronic housing crisis cannot be properly understood, measured, or appreciated by City Hall and the Mayor if the most fundamental tool - the Annual Monitoring Reports - present such seriously misleading information.

Please stop using the term "affordable". It only confuses, because most of what is described as "affordable" is not affordable at all to those most in need of housing.

A further point , on your - welcome - move to have ballots before giving the go ahead for regeneration schemes. In the recent ballot in South Kilburn in Brent, 17 different blocks were lumped together into one ballot despite residents having very different views about what should be done to their housing. Some were desperate for their dilapidated blocks to be demolished, whereas in other blocks residents felt they were sound and only needed refurbishment. This meant residents of different blocks were pitted against each other. Further issues were: the clarity of information given by the Council to residents as background to the ballot, and the amount that the Council could spend on winning the ballot (little short of what individual candidates can spend in a general election!), meaning there is no level playing field for those with doubts about the regeneration scheme.

I agree with all the suggestions below!