Date: Wednesday 4 March 2015
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: CLM 4.02, Clement House
Speakers: Professor Charles Goodhart, Dr Nancy Holman, Professor Anne Power, Professor Christine Whitehead
Chair: Kate Allen

Housing presents a range of challenges for whichever party wins the next election. Everyone agrees there is a shortage of homes (to rent or to buy) as well as an affordability crisis in many parts of the country, and yet housing completions are at historically low levels. Experts have listed a number of reasons for the lack of new investment including the planning process, the lack of available land, a shortage of finance, restrictions on building on the Green Belt, the influence of overseas buyers, and indeed cutbacks in government grant.

Additionally, increasing regulation is making it harder for households who would traditionally have been able to become owner-occupiers to do so. Increasing numbers of families—especially in London—are paying high rents for poor quality and insecure accommodation. Consequently, policies to increase investment and standards in the private rented sector are under discussion, as are ways to improve access to mortgage funding and low cost homeownership.

But housing is also a macro-economic issue – housing costs affect competitiveness; over-emphasis on housing investment might limit more productive sectors; and mortgage debt is seen as a source of macro instability.

This event will examine the key challenges facing the parties as they struggle to create more homes, to give households better choices, and to reduce volatility in the housing market and the economy as a whole.

Charles Goodhart is Director of the Financial Regulation Research Programme. He was a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee from June 1997 – May 2000.

Nancy Holman is Associate Professor of Urban Planning at LSE.

Anne Power is Professor of Social Policy at LSE and CASE Associate.

Christine Whitehead is Professor of Housing at the LSE.

Kate Allen is the Financial Times property correspondent.

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Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSEhousing

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