When this writer was growing up, there was a ridiculous ad for packaged mints. It featured two people arguing about whether the mint was a breath freshener or a candy. The argument is brought to a halt when a disembodied voice says, “Stop! You’re both right.”
Writing for the Centre for Cities, Samuel Watling and Anthony Breach have taken the role of the disembodied voice on much more serious topic: the source the UK’s housing problems.
Watling and Breach devised a research study to evaluate two competing claims about the source of the UK’s housing deficit. One school of thought says that the lack of housing in the UK is due to the country’s land use planning system. The other attributes the housing deficit to the dearth of social housing construction since the 1980’s.
The investigation uses new data sources and compares the UK with other countries in Europe to reach the conclusion that both claims are correct. Watling and Breach also assess that it will take decades to build out the deficit of four million homes at the current rate of construction.
By validating both claims, Watling and Breach have constructed a path to bring people with divergent views together. The report wraps up with recommendations to get on with building the missing homes.
The study’s approach might be replicated in other jurisdictions that have deeply divided views on housing issues. The methodology, which uses data from the 19th as well as the 20th century, will be of interest to researchers.
Read more at Centre for Cities: The Housebuilding Crisis: The Uk’s 4 Million Missing Homes
