Remeber the Scottish Government whipped its MSPs to vote down declaring a housing crisis in Scotland.
This is why leaving housing provision up to the money-grabbing private sector is a farce. They don’t have people’s actual needs in mind, only their bottom lines.
Honestly? Thank fuck. They need to stop building fucking houses and crack on with the stuff folk living in houses need. Schools, hospitals, clinics etc. every fucking school in the town is oversubscribed and playgrounds littered with huts but they’re putting up another 3000 family sized homes. These aren’t one and two bedroom affordable homes to help the homeless crisis. These are expensive family sized homes and families need local services.
Greens once again shooting themselves and everyone else in their foot with their dogma, rather than following the evidence.
It was known right from the start that rent controls simply do not work, and yet they went ahead anyway.
Idiots.
Or developers axe plans that were never really going to be anything other than a proposal and blame it on the rent cap to attack it. Same developers that are going bust in both Scotland and parts of the UK that don’t have a rent cap.
So large construction companies that like to corner the market on overpricing of construction projects. Look at Carillion – they controlled so many sectors of government procured projects, while creaming off massive bonuses, then bankrupting themselves, but their bonuses remain with them….
We generally build at least as much, if not more than other UK countries.
Will be interesting to see updates to actual data – not just potential projects.
This just makes me sad. None of the parties involved are good for the people
How about building them to sell? Or is that totally out of fashion these days?
Or to translate: Doing the right thing threatens our monopoly, say developers.
Well, the Government should be able to get that abandoned land cheap and build some houses they own and can rent out. Use the income to build more houses.. and more… you see where I am going with this. If private landlords can do it, the Government could do it cheaper and at scale
I have some doubts about the rent cap too but this is just repeating a press release from The Scottish Property Federation, who “represent the views of real estate industry businesses and professionals”.
My word, how are people on here trying to defend rent controls??
It just showcases a complete lack of economic sense. Left wing, right wing, the vast majority of both economists, from all economic persuasions will tell you: price controls do not work.
They have never worked.
They will never work.
Even during War, where the state has essentially complete control over the economy, invariably a black market pops up because price controls just don’t work.
Rent controls are just price controls for rented housing.
The fundamentals of supply and demand are like the laws of thermodynamics; you can’t break them, they just adjust into a new equilibrium.
The price is set because demand is high and supply is low. In the most simplistic terms: if you set a price that is lower than the equilibrium set by supply/ demand, then it just de- incentivises the suppliers to fulfill that demand. The initial Demand is met with whatever supply remains, meaning short term it’s great for people able to get it at the artificially lowered price. But Demand will continue to increase, the supply diminishes and there is no market kick back to force higher supply (because the price is set is lower than it should be) leading to a breakdown of production, and the market as a whole (which is exactly what happens whenever rent controls are introduced)
Well perhaps the Scottish government could put a compulsory purchase order on the developers land and build social housing instead.
15 comments
Well done Patrick.
Remeber the Scottish Government whipped its MSPs to vote down declaring a housing crisis in Scotland.
This is why leaving housing provision up to the money-grabbing private sector is a farce. They don’t have people’s actual needs in mind, only their bottom lines.
Honestly? Thank fuck. They need to stop building fucking houses and crack on with the stuff folk living in houses need. Schools, hospitals, clinics etc. every fucking school in the town is oversubscribed and playgrounds littered with huts but they’re putting up another 3000 family sized homes. These aren’t one and two bedroom affordable homes to help the homeless crisis. These are expensive family sized homes and families need local services.
Greens once again shooting themselves and everyone else in their foot with their dogma, rather than following the evidence.
It was known right from the start that rent controls simply do not work, and yet they went ahead anyway.
Idiots.
Or developers axe plans that were never really going to be anything other than a proposal and blame it on the rent cap to attack it. Same developers that are going bust in both Scotland and parts of the UK that don’t have a rent cap.
So large construction companies that like to corner the market on overpricing of construction projects. Look at Carillion – they controlled so many sectors of government procured projects, while creaming off massive bonuses, then bankrupting themselves, but their bonuses remain with them….
We generally build at least as much, if not more than other UK countries.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/quarterly-housing-statistics-june-2023/pages/2–all-sector-new-housebuilding/
Will be interesting to see updates to actual data – not just potential projects.
This just makes me sad. None of the parties involved are good for the people
How about building them to sell? Or is that totally out of fashion these days?
Or to translate: Doing the right thing threatens our monopoly, say developers.
Well, the Government should be able to get that abandoned land cheap and build some houses they own and can rent out. Use the income to build more houses.. and more… you see where I am going with this. If private landlords can do it, the Government could do it cheaper and at scale
I have some doubts about the rent cap too but this is just repeating a press release from The Scottish Property Federation, who “represent the views of real estate industry businesses and professionals”.
My word, how are people on here trying to defend rent controls??
It just showcases a complete lack of economic sense. Left wing, right wing, the vast majority of both economists, from all economic persuasions will tell you: price controls do not work.
They have never worked.
They will never work.
Even during War, where the state has essentially complete control over the economy, invariably a black market pops up because price controls just don’t work.
Rent controls are just price controls for rented housing.
The fundamentals of supply and demand are like the laws of thermodynamics; you can’t break them, they just adjust into a new equilibrium.
The price is set because demand is high and supply is low. In the most simplistic terms: if you set a price that is lower than the equilibrium set by supply/ demand, then it just de- incentivises the suppliers to fulfill that demand. The initial Demand is met with whatever supply remains, meaning short term it’s great for people able to get it at the artificially lowered price. But Demand will continue to increase, the supply diminishes and there is no market kick back to force higher supply (because the price is set is lower than it should be) leading to a breakdown of production, and the market as a whole (which is exactly what happens whenever rent controls are introduced)
Well perhaps the Scottish government could put a compulsory purchase order on the developers land and build social housing instead.