20260825 - Housing

People are desperate and rioting because of a shortage of housing. But let me tell you something. There is no shortage. During the Kosovo war, officials laughed at me because I said there was no shortage. But in their wisdom, they put me in charge. There had been a shortage not because of a lack of properties but because people were afraid to let their properties.

We brought many properties back into occupancy, and that too at below the market price. Property owners were offered guaranteed rents under the market price, with the promise they would be paid if there were voids, and we would take care of small repairs. The property would be handed back to them in good condition when the lease ended.

This was also done for hard-to-house priority need categories, which included former prisoners and people who had been jailed for violent offences. It normally costs the government a small fortune to house these people.

Criminals

The government is releasing dangerous criminals. They must be housed under curfew, where they are monitored twenty-four hours. There is a plan to build seventy thousand properties for social housing, and the prime minister and housing secretary must be congratulated on that. But it is over ten years. It will not solve the immediate problem. What I am suggesting will bring immediate relief to thousands of homeless people and also save the government lots of money.

Prab G.