Imagine a partnership in which both parties bring their particular skills and interests to the table. There they strike a fair bargain. Alas, it doesn’t necessarily happen in Britain’s brave new world of public/private partnerships to build affordable housing.
A deal is struck between government who wish affordable housing housing built, and private builders who wish building permits for market rate construction. But the original deal often doesn’t stick. The builders are becoming adept at slapping their open-mouthed cheek as they suddenly discover evidence that the construction project is not quite viable. Whereupon they disappear down a convenient legal loophole taking all their valuable building permits with them. The government, on the other hand, is left clutching a much reduced bag of affordable housing units.
One apparent result: in the face of an increasing demand for public housing, Britain’s annual output of ‘affordable’ homes has been cut in half over the last five years.
Read a detailed article on this failure of public/private affordable housing cooperation and what Britain could do about it, politically speaking, in the Independent: Developers will not be allowed to escape promises to build affordable housing, under Labour plans
