I have been meaning to get this of my chest for a long time.
We have a choice to make in Cornwall about how we deliver affordable housing with the withdrawals of subsidies for Central government.
The only way for us to deliver the kind of housing we need is to come up with an alternative model. The social rented model currently in use is one that is expensive to deliver and subject to abuse. I have heard stories of people making themselves intentionally homeless, having more children to get a bigger house and causing damage to their properties to get a move. For far too long in Cornwall we have been providing houses for people who live off the state. Long term unemployed and slackers who haven't looked for a job in years. There should no longer be a culture in Cornwall of supporting this type of house building.
It is obvious that Cornwall has a housing problem. It is also obvious that with the new planning documents that will come into effect soon we have an opportunity to address that.We have to make policies that are attractive to land owners and developers to deliver sites otherwise the housing situation will get worse.
We are ignoring huge swaths of people in Cornwall who have no hope of getting an open market house and who earn between 10,000 and 20,000 pounds a year. They are not being looked after and its time that stopped. I'm 33 and many people my age are working hard, living in one bed flats on high private rents with no hope of getting a sniff at a house and are making a contribution to our economy in Cornwall.
WE MUST RECOGNISE WORK ETHIC WHEN ALLOCATING HOUSING.
My proposal is this:
1. We do away with the highly expensive social rented model.
2. We introduce a discount sale model that only supports residents who make a positive contribution to the Cornish economy.
3. We get the banks to sign up to this and LEND BACK OUR MONEY. We bailed them out its high time they looked after us.
4. We agree a price for one,two,three and four bed houses and stick to it.
5. Land owners will be more inclined to come forward with land if they know they now longer have to provide the most expensive kind of affordable house to deliver.
As always I look forward to your comments.
