Housing is a stakeholder challenge as much as a policy one

With the UK set for a new Prime Minister, there is one policy issue that will remain high on the political agenda, whoever is handed the keys to Number 10: housing. 

Housing is intellectually fascinating as a policy area. It’s simultaneously an issue on which everyone agrees – whatever ideological label you apply to yourself, you’ll agree we’re in a housing crisis – and an issue on which most people disagree with the solutions proposed, often with a level of righteous fury that is hard to find elsewhere. 

In a meeting with a student housing developer last week, we were discussing the impact on development of local authorities going Green. They noted that those boroughs would be seen as no-go zones for their investors until they saw how the councils engaged with planning applications for new homes. I mused that this meant the boroughs most often in need of new student homes – ones with large student populations that tend to predominantly vote Green – were those most likely to miss out not only on new, appropriate housing, but that existing family homes would likely be let to three or four individual students at inflated rents for a single bedroom. 

Each side wants to provide good homes that people can afford. Each side believes the other is, at best, categorically and unequivocally wrong – and, at worst, outright malevolent. 

Housing policy is where the good intentions of both sides are met with utter outrage. It is an intellectual discussion which has very, very real-world consequences that are tangible to every single citizen (and then some). Indeed, even the deputy mayor of Paris has recently expressed very strong views on London’s housing economics. 

That tangibility is why it’s an issue of such resonance. Everyone is exposed to it as a policy area, while also recognising its importance to the health of the nation. That the word ‘economy’ derives from two Ancient Greek words that collectively mean the management of the household is – instinctively – understood. 

Failing to acknowledge and adapt to that deceptive simplicity is where the property industry – and indeed the government – has gone wrong for so long. 

Housing is unique as a policy issue.  

Everyone feels they, often incorrectly, understand it and, always correctly, that they have a stake in it.  

Given the power of communities in blocking it and the need for the public and private sectors to collaborate in delivering it, it is an issue that requires laser-sharp communications and engagement. 

That’s why Burnham should treat housing as a stakeholder challenge first, and a policy issue second. Because until he brings stakeholders, including the development industry, together to tell a story that is as tangible as the management of the household, any practical solution will only ever be academic.