'A decent document': a former civil servant's view of the White Paper

The process of finalising a White Paper usually involves frantic activity on two fronts.

There’s the small matter of getting an agreed set of proposals, which is not easy given competing Whitehall interests.

Then there’s working out how the proposals will be sold to the public – in government speak, sorting out the ‘narrative’.

“The White Paper does a decent job of untangling the worst excesses of the Cameron government.”

The ‘narrative’ in the latest Housing White Paper is particularly strident.

It (rightly) describes the housing market as “broken”, and goes on to herald what is described as a “bold, radical vision”.

It is not unusual for the strength of the proposals to fall a little short of the strength of the narrative, and this White Paper is no exception.

Nonetheless, there is a quite a bit to like about the style and the substance.

A technocratic eye has been cast over much of the planning system, and there is a clear intention to push local authorities harder to agree Local Plans based on consistent and credible assessment of need.

Increased fees will help give planning departments much-needed extra firepower.

There are even proposals to deal with the thorny problem of great crested newts, which in many areas seem to be afforded more protection than the average private renter.

The White Paper also does a decent job of untangling the worst excesses of the Cameron government.

As widely forecast, Starter Homes is wrapped into a broader requirement around affordable homeownership.

Gone is the fervour on owner-occupation, replaced with a more pragmatic tone on the need for a range of options.

The passage on Right to Buy abruptly ends with a reminder that government intends to run another pilot. Evidently this is no longer a flagship policy.

There is plenty to play for.

Details on many announcements are subject to further consultation. Government has ducked the question of rents for now, although there are at least some vaguely positive noises.

Similarly, funding for supported housing is to be dealt with separately.

“The greatest weakness of all is the failure to confront cyclicality.”

Heavily trailed measures to extend the length of private rented tenancies turn out to be the start of a conversation. Similarly, it’s not yet quite clear how the penalties for tardy developers will really bite.

Other areas are disappointing. It looks like the proposals on the green belt have been watered down, probably following a long and difficult battle in government.

The hint that local authorities can look in this direction if all other avenues fail doesn’t take the story very far forward.

For me, the greatest weakness of all is the failure to confront cyclicality – the pattern of boom and bust that is a cancer at the heart of our housing system.

The effects of this problem are all-pervasive. While housing remains a lightly taxed investment good, often funded with borrowed money, future price spikes followed by sharp corrections are more or less inevitable.

This in turn means that large developers will hedge their bets, that the supply chain is regularly hollowed out, and that those small developers brave enough to enter the market will struggle to secure finance, and risk being wiped out in the next crash.

The long-term answers to these problems lie in major reforms in the tax system and mortgage market regulation, or a supply model with a large counter-cyclical component (traditionally sub-market housing for rent). This White Paper barely touches on this territory.

What this leaves is a set of proposals which, if implemented well, should help nudge the market in a better direction for as long as prices grow or remain stable.

In that sense it is a decent document.

The ministerial team at the Department for Communities and Local Government – who by all accounts have a much firmer grip of housing issues than some of their recent predecessors – therefore deserve some credit.

They have probably had to fight hard to get this far.

However, if something is genuinely broken it is not often possible to tweak it back to life. 

Further more decisive (and potentially unpopular) action will be needed if we are to find a long-term and sustainable answer to the housing crisis.

Matthew Bailes, chief executive, Paradigm Housing Group