London Mayor

[Monkeyface]

All the ones I talk to say it's impossible to get approval to build anything. And on top of that, trying to buy a house is a several month affair for approval. It's insane.

We don't need houses, we need lots and lots of big apartment blocks. From what I read council members who are responsible for approvals are best buds with the developers. They get all expense paid trips to real estate conferences in nice locations like southern France. Moreover, councils can't afford the legal costs to fight anything in court, so developers can just sue if it doesn't get approved and beat them with an army of lawyer. There was a good article in the guardian on this.

 

[doghouse]

We don't need houses, we need lots and lots of big apartment blocks. From what I read council members who are responsible for approvals are best buds with the developers. They get all expense paid trips to real estate conferences in nice locations like southern France. Moreover, councils can't afford the legal costs to fight anything in court, so developers can just sue if it doesn't get approved and beat them with an army of lawyer. There was a good article in the guardian on this.

I was talking about apartment blocks.

None of the developers I know can get anything through. They aren't getting very good value for their bribes apparently. Don't read the Guardian for anything remotely factual when it comes to real estate development btw.

 

[Fwiffo]

Such a passionate discussion.

Affluent parents help. My old work mate sold his own home in Basingstoke to his daughter - it was the only one she could afford. He lives in a cottage out west now. Another child he had, he put up much of his pension so they could afford the down payment to some house in the middle of nowhere.

My other work mate couldn't find a place after he sold his flat and moved back in (kids, wife and all) with his mum.

 

[Monkeyface]

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2...social-housing-regeneration-oliver-wainwright

 

[doghouse]

It's usual Guardianista nonsense. I really don't have time to rebut all the stupid in that article, but suffice to say that bottom line is there aren't enough dwellings built in London, period. People will build whatever they are allowed, developers have literally zero self control. See 2007 United States. Tell them no units over XXX value and ease barrier to construction and you'd have an explosion of housing.

Annualized starts in London were 25,000 units in 2015. That's a joke in a city of 9 million people. FWIW, there was a pretty substantial uptick last year, so maybe it is getting better.

 

[Scherensammler]

In order to build social housing (council houses) there needs to be a lot of money in the budget for that.
Same for public transport.
In Germany they built huge apartment blocks in the 60's to the 80's for all kinds of people in mind. Small flats for singles, 3 to 5 bedroom flats for families. Worked fine, despite the fact that they were usually on the outskirts of the cities.
Problems started when the companies owning these places had to rent to unemployed/ and or people with migration background. Today they are like ghettoes, with different gangs and all.
In Bremen, where my mother lives, exists this:

Bremen is not a big city, so commute within the city limits is between 30 to 60 min.
There are also parts of the cities where locals have lived all their lives, now nearing retirement or death. Pensions for working class folk have been cut drastically and many struggle to pay their rents. And as soon as their flats become available, depending on the area, it's either lifestyle flats for the better off or flats for migrants. So again, no room for working class singles or families.
In the 50's to the 80's families were building houses when they thought they had a good and secure employment.
With few exceptions, today no job is secure any more.
The last big wave of private house building was in the 90's, when the German government kindly handed 100.000,- DM interest free loans to returning "Germans" from Russia to help them integrate.
Some companies laid off workers above a certain age (usually around 55 to 60), offering them some sort of early retirement plan for a few years, but they eventually ended up on benefits for a couple of years and with a reduced pension.
Like in the UK, the German government has invented all sorts of schemes to "help" people find jobs, but the ones profiting from that are companies like Amazon, who get their workers almost for free. The idea was to give people work experience and get them into full time employment after one year.
Needless to say that they don't get to that stage. But they are out of the unemployment statistics, so the government looks good.
Here in the UK a lot of people are "self-employed" and / or on so called "zero hours" contracts. Which basically means that they don't get working hours/ pay if they aren't needed. Again, not in the statistics.

 

[ConchitaWurst]

These sorts of places.

budget holiday resort ?

 

[doghouse]

budget holiday resort ?

You could characterize it that way.

 

[fxh]

budget holiday resort ?

Yeah - doggie - I've not seen anything like that here. How many families/people would live there? Is it 3 storied flats or different flats on different stories?
Is the common area - swim pool - operated by the Owners Corporation? - the overheads - for a high maintenance item - the pool - would not be cheap for occupants. And who really needs a swim pool? It doesn't seem to have a fence - what about child drownings etc?

Why does this setup appeal to people?

 

[prince nez]

In order to build social housing (council houses) there needs to be a lot of money in the budget for that.
Same for public transport.
In Germany they built huge apartment blocks in the 60's to the 80's for all kinds of people in mind. Small flats for singles, 3 to 5 bedroom flats for families. Worked fine, despite the fact that they were usually on the outskirts of the cities.
Problems started when the companies owning these places had to rent to unemployed/ and or people with migration background. Today they are like ghettoes, with different gangs and all.
In Bremen, where my mother lives, exists this:

Bremen is not a big city, so commute within the city limits is between 30 to 60 min.
There are also parts of the cities where locals have lived all their lives, now nearing retirement or death. Pensions for working class folk have been cut drastically and many struggle to pay their rents. And as soon as their flats become available, depending on the area, it's either lifestyle flats for the better off or flats for migrants. So again, no room for working class singles or families.
In the 50's to the 80's families were building houses when they thought they had a good and secure employment.
With few exceptions, today no job is secure any more.
The last big wave of private house building was in the 90's, when the German government kindly handed 100.000,- DM interest free loans to returning "Germans" from Russia to help them integrate.
Some companies laid off workers above a certain age (usually around 55 to 60), offering them some sort of early retirement plan for a few years, but they eventually ended up on benefits for a couple of years and with a reduced pension.
Like in the UK, the German government has invented all sorts of schemes to "help" people find jobs, but the ones profiting from that are companies like Amazon, who get their workers almost for free. The idea was to give people work experience and get them into full time employment after one year.
Needless to say that they don't get to that stage. But they are out of the unemployment statistics, so the government looks good.
Here in the UK a lot of people are "self-employed" and / or on so called "zero hours" contracts. Which basically means that they don't get working hours/ pay if they aren't needed. Again, not in the statistics.

Looks like Prora. Kraft durch Freude!

 

[COG]

Ooh boy, this guy likes criminal swine.

“I think Bill de Blasio is doing interesting housing stuff in New York, Rahm Emanuel is doing interesting stuff with the infrastructure bank in Chicago,” he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...ald-trumps-ignorant-view-of-islam-could-make/

 

[doghouse]

Yeah - doggie - I've not seen anything like that here. How many families/people would live there? Is it 3 storied flats or different flats on different stories?
Is the common area - swim pool - operated by the Owners Corporation? - the overheads - for a high maintenance item - the pool - would not be cheap for occupants. And who really needs a swim pool? It doesn't seem to have a fence - what about child drownings etc?

Why does this setup appeal to people?

I'm not positive of the interior layouts, I think some are 1 story and some are two. All maintenance including pool is handled by developer/owner. Pools are selling points, not sure what else I can say.

 

[formby]

One word:

Land.