Bridging the generational divide. Why it can and should be done.

Rob Smith

The next general election will be the first time in almost a decade that the words ‘Europe’ and ‘Brexit’ won’t be at the forefront of the campaign. Perhaps I am an optimist, but it seems slowly but surely housing and intergenerational equality issues are moving to the centre of the political stage. Whilst the Conservative party seems to be doing an excellent job of disenfranchising young professionals, it’s important to remember that despite all the noise about ‘getting Brexit done’, they were elected on a manifesto pledge to build 300,000 new homes each year by the mid-2020s, a manifesto which stated ‘This will see us build at least a million more homes, of all tenures, over the next Parliament – in the areas that really need them.’ Fast forward to July 2023 and what do we see? Radical planning reform effectively scrapped and mandatory housing targets for local authorities gone only to be replaced by empty rhetoric such as ‘concreting over the green belt.’ Most bizarrely, during the recent by-election campaigns it emerged that the party had been putting out attack adverts proclaiming “Lib Dems pledge to build 300,000 new homes each year in bid to tackle housing ‘crisis’, it’s no wonder why senior Conservatives were left ‘baffled’ by the attacks on their own government’s policy.

London is arguably one of the least affordable parts of the UK but there seems to be little political direction on how we tackle the most pressing issue of the day. It’s no secret that I full heartedly endorsed Samuel Kasumu’s bid to be the Conservative Party’s candidate for Mayor of London, in part because he was offering something very radical when it came to housing, but it could be argued that he simply wanted to take the party back to its roots by expanding opportunity and homeownership for Londoners who are likely to be paying more and renting longer than other parts of the UK. Writing in Conservative Home last November, Kasumu said ‘We Tories are in danger of turning our back on Thatcher’s home ownership legacy’ he makes no qualms about challenging the status quo, perhaps that’s why we fell short at the first hurdle. Whilst both of the mayoral finalists recognised that London is ‘unaffordable’ it is frustrating that housing seemed to take a backseat in both of their campaigns, perhaps that might explain why I have struggled to muster up any real enthusiasm in the concluding weeks of the nomination process. Whilst it is inevitable that the nominated candidate (Susan Hall) will put scrapping ULEZ at the heart of their campaign, elections are rarely won on single issues and it will be important that we continue to make the conservative case for issues concerning Londoners including transport, crime and you guessed it, housing.

The incumbent mayor, Sadiq Khan is a passionate advocate for rent freezes something which I’m afraid I cannot support. You only have to look at the latest data from Foxtons. Astonishingly, in April the agency had 97,000 tenants chasing 2,000 rental properties with the Chief Executive of  Zoopla saying ‘Rents will continue to rise ahead of incomes unless we see a sustained increase in rental supply or a material weakening in demand, both of which appear unlikely.’ With more and more private landlords leaving the rental sector because of what they say is down to increased taxation and additional bureaucracy it is difficult to see how this policy will do anything to lift the pressure on an already overstretched market.

A few weeks ago, Samuel asked me to speak at his book launch on the subject of outsiders. To be honest, I did initially struggle with what I was going to say because I would not consider myself an outsider, at least in the traditional sense as I have not had to overcome adversity like others have. However, I did argue that many young people could be considered outsiders because the idea of having a real stake in society through owning their own home feels a distant dream. Many are stuck in a cycle of insecure tenancies, dealing with rising rental costs, having to frequently move, all whilst struggling to raise a deposit as house prices have continued to rise over the last few decades. Millennials frequently get a lot of stick for being the ‘entitled generation’ if only we gave up the avocado and our Netflix subscriptions and all will be well but try telling that to the twenty something year old singleton still stuck at home or in a house share. I’ve been pretty lucky with my housemates; we all get on well but in an ideal world we would not be living together because we already own our own home, like our parents did before us.

Earlier I spoke about the decision by the government to abolish mandatory housing targets. I’m afraid to say we are already beginning to see the consequences of this with many local authorities choosing to pause their local plan process, and who can blame them? Since 2010, there has been fifteen Housing Minsters four of which were appointed in the last twelve months alone. Is it any wonder why local authorities can’t tell if they are coming or going? According to a recent report in The Times planning approvals hit record lows last year, to add insult to injury planning departments are becoming increasingly overstretched with official figures showing planning applications being determined within the statutory period of 13 weeks have collapsed from 57% ten years ago to just 19% in 2022/23, on current trajectory, the situation is likely to worsen unless radical action is taken.

Nationally, The Labour Party has pledged to reverse the scrapping of mandatory housing targets, reform planning, even going so far as to say that they will give local authorities more power to build on green belt land to meet their area’s housing needs if it wins the next general election. In recent weeks Labour seem to be talking up homeownership far more than the Conservatives, which was traditionally the party’s natural territory. It is of course worth noting that Labour’s coalition of voters is largely very different to the Conservatives perhaps making it slightly easier for a potential Labour government to push radical reform through parliament. However, putting this thought to one side for a moment, the Conservatives should be worried that The Times a traditionally supportive newspaper seems to have effectively endorsed Labour’s bold offer on housing proclaiming ‘Tory inaction on housebuilding is failing a generation and stifling growth. Sir Keir Starmer’s bold stance on new homes is to be applauded.’

There will no doubt be colleagues across the party who will be frustrated by my recent critiques, but I hope they understand where I and so many others are coming from. In many ways I am a rebel with a cause but fundamentally, I am a conservative. My criticism is not born out of ill will, far from it, it is never comfortable being at odds with your own party, but politics is about making a difference, trying to improve people's lives and I accept that it won’t always be easy, however, at times, it feels like we are at risk of losing sight of our core principles of championing aspiration, expanding opportunity and homeownership for all, irrespective of background. If we continue to go down this path, there’s every chance we could end up alienating an entire generation and the data certainly backs this argument up. It isn’t all bad news though, I’m pleased to say, there are plenty of excellent conservatives who continue to make the positive case for building new homes, including amongst others Simon Clarke MP, Brandon Lewis MP, Charles Walker MP, Bim Afolami MP, Lord Frost and a certain Samuel Kasumu (you may have heard of him). For now, at least, it feels that the political leadership of the day is choosing caution over radicalism whilst this may be popular amongst older homeowners in the home counties who are resistant to new development, it is unlikely to win any favours with younger voters, many of whom are more likely to be renting while struggling to get on the housing ladder. It’s worth remembering that as the average age of homeownership rises, so does the average age of a Conservative voter; if we are unable to buck this trend it will only add to our electoral difficulties in the years to come. We once boasted that we were a broad-church party, but we cannot win elections by just relying on older voters, we must find a way to bridge the gap between different generations if we are going to continue to prosper as a political force in Britain, after all, we are arguably one of the oldest and most successful political parties in the world.