Mastodawn

Andy Burnham is casting round for ideas for how to fund a major increase of spending on social housing, within the current (albeit modified) fiscal rules set by Rachel Reeves;

A while ago, I proposed a social hosing bond (not unlike a war bond) that would direct savings & investment towards the sector from people looking for stable investments (and who perhaps want to see a rise in social housing).

While not fully developed you'll get the idea.

#housing #politics
https://northwestbylines.co.uk/politics/opinion/could-social-housing-bonds-be-part-of-the-answer-to-the-housing-crisis/

Could social housing bonds be part of the answer to the housing crisis?

Funding needed for social housing is massive, and this article offers a novel approach, to be known as national social housing bonds

North West Bylines | Powerful Citizen Journalism

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Walrus 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿Jun 6

@ChrisMayLA6

So Burnham is another one that doesn't understand how governments fund things?

I am so tired of ambitious people who don't know the basics of how countries work getting power.

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Claire McNab Jun 6

@Walrus That's 'cos of the gutting of local democracy.

In late 19th century, local authorities in Britain managed large capital projects. Not just magnificent municipal buildings, but roads, water, sanitation, energy, transport, hospitals.

This continued into 20th c. E.g. 1930s Bradford invested heavily in huge new reservoirs. Post-war, it was housing.

But no more. Power has been privatised or sent to quangos. Local govt is infantilised, and so are politicians and parties.

@ChrisMayLA6

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Elaine

@2legged @Walrus @ChrisMayLA6 on Scotland councils aren't allowed the competence to make such investments, which is a problem. The alternative problem is that instead of investing in infrastructure, councils in England have played Monopoly with office building developments and bankrupted themselves. I think that councils need that competence but there should be firm rules around what may and may not be built with it. PFIs should be abolished and the parasitical influence of lenders removed.

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Claire McNab Jun 6

@Mschatelaine In Scotland and England, LA powers were vastly diminished in the 20th century & 21st. Councils are now local agents of centrally-designed services, not independent designers of big projects.

The bankruptcy crisis is 'cos Osborne slashed LA funding, told LAs to be properly speculators. They had no experience of this, so inevitably crashed & burned.

But the underlying problem is that LAs have been infantilised; politics no longer selects for those skills.

@2legged @Walrus @ChrisMayLA6
Listening to R6Music’s Radcliffe & Maconie, today, as they talked about ad-hoc rules/versions of Monopoly play.
I thought, what excellent ideas.
Players should begin the game with full hotel & house ‘capitalisation’, a new set of Chance & Community Chest cards that reflect realistic, present challenges (costs). Objective: maintain portfolio WHILE staying legal!

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Claire McNab Jun 6

@guardeddon IMRHO, "staying legal" misses the whole point of the game of #Monopoly. The game is designed to simulate the avarice and venality of capitalism, so play is all about cheating without getting caught.

So, yes, dish out all the property at the start. Then slyly cheat like hell. That's real capitalism.

@Mschatelaine @Walrus @ChrisMayLA6