New plans by Grant Shapps are a recipe for increasing homelessness

February 23, 2013

Housing minister Grant Shapps recently announced plans to make the unauthorised subletting of social housing a criminal offence, with offenders facing up to two years in prison. The stated rationale is to free up dwellings for those on council waiting lists. But the policy fails to address the distorted economic incentives facing social tenants and in practice it is likely to exacerbate housing shortages while extending official intrusion into the private lives of tenants, lowering incentives for family formation and reducing labour mobility.

Criminal sanctions will raise the costs associated with unauthorised subletting, and this will tend to reduce the activity. However, such a reduction also means that those who previously rented such property from social housing tenants will be pushed into alternative accommodation, adding to housing waiting lists (either directly or indirectly through displacement in the private rented sector).

Moreover, it cannot be assumed that reducing subletting will free-up enough dwellings to compensate for this effect. Given long waiting lists in many areas – and much higher private sector rents – tenants will be reluctant to give up their social tenancies. With the option of subletting less attractive, more may choose to stay put rather than cohabiting or moving away to seek work. Some may live with partners most of the time while visiting their official residence periodically to maintain the tenancy. (By vacating the dwelling they would risk moving to the bottom of the waiting list should the relationship break down). Thus the likely effect of the crackdown on subletting is to increase the proportion of social properties that are empty or under-occupied. This in turn may increase the risk that the dwelling deteriorates (e.g. from damp) or is targeted by vandals or squatters – as the government’s own research on subletting recognises. 

Then there is the question of enforcement. There are practical difficulties in determining whether the correct people are occupying a dwelling, particularly if traditions of privacy are respected. There are grey areas such as friends and relatives coming to stay for a few weeks. The crackdown is therefore likely to involve further authoritarian intrusion into private lives. The economic costs involved in employing specialist inspection teams, instituting contested eviction procedures, prosecuting offenders and imprisoning them are also likely to be significant.

Rather than trying to cure the unintended consequences of state intervention with more intervention (the flawed approach of the government’s welfare reforms in general), Shapps should instead focus on removing the distortions responsible for the shortage of low-cost dwellings. Liberalising the planning system and rescinding burdensome building regulations would free the private sector to provide cheap housing as it did in the 19th century. Social housing, together with the £20 billion annual Housing Benefit bill, could then be phased out, with voluntary organisations catering for those with special needs.

11 January 2012, IEA Blog

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Can we afford affordable housing?

February 17, 2013

Yesterday it was announced that the Greater London Authority (GLA) is to create 50,000 ‘affordable’ homes. But do such schemes actually increase the affordability of housing?

When developers are forced to allocate a share of their dwellings (or land) to social housing or part-ownership it reduces their returns, since these properties will not be sold at full market value. Since the financial incentives to build are reduced, fewer homes are likely to be constructed. This reduction in supply will make housing in general less affordable – and it should be remembered that most people, even those on quite low incomes, have to find accommodation in the normal market.

The effect is exacerbated because full-price buyers will pay less when they know their neighbours are likely to include housing association clients, who may be more likely to engage in anti-social behaviour because of the inability of so-called social landlords to have appropriate clauses in their letting contracts to ensure that tenants meet acceptable standards of behaviour.

And because ‘affordable’ homes are subsidised by government, it means taxpayers have less disposable income available to spend on housing.

There is also significant moral hazard, particularly when social housing is prioritised, as in the GLA plans. If social tenants are allocated brand new, high-specification dwellings – often in expensive, desirable areas – it increases the incentives for people to choose a life of welfare dependency rather than working hard to improve their living conditions.
The policy is also unfair to existing residents who live near Boris Johnson’s social housing projects. They will see their properties devalued and their neighbourhoods degenerate as social tenants are moved into their area. Under the current planning system they will receive no compensation.

Given that land supply is currently relatively fixed, the proposed schemes simply make housing more affordable for one group at the expense of another group and of general welfare. If there is subsidy to the housing sector as a whole then it simply encourages the sorts of bubbles that have got us where we are today.

If the GLA really wants to solve London’s housing shortage it must focus on increasing the supply of land to private developers. This means abolishing the green belt – much of which is not very green – selling off under-used parks and playing fields, and reforming planning rules that wastefully allocate valuable land to industry and warehousing. Tinkering with ‘affordable’ housing will only make the problem worse.

21 November 2008, IEA Blog

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