Thread by @GeorgeMonbiot

The major component of the cost of living crisis is, as it has been for years, the cost of accommodation. The outrageous price of housing is caused by
a. the sale of council houses
b. failure to build new *social* housing
c. the deregulation of rent
d. second homes ...
Thread/

e. empty homes
f. control of land banks by property developers
g. massive and growing inequality in the distribution of purchasing power
h. which fuels a buy-to-let and second home frenzy

i. “Help to Buy” schemes that do the opposite of what they claim to do, by inflating prices
j. as does mortgage credit liberalisation

k. the spectacular failure to tax rising land values and capital gains on main residences
l. which turns housing into a lucrative financial speculation
m. the massive inheritance tax exemptions for homes

n. the widespread use of the UK’s housing market for money laundering by overseas criminals, brokered by the City of London, and the government’s total failure to prevent it.

It is *not* for the reasons cited by the billionaire press, such as planning rules, immigration and population increase.
At the root of all the issues I've mentioned is one big issue: extreme inequality of wealth and power.

Incidentally, I see the various “Help to Buy” schemes as an entirely cynical scam. Governments must know that, far from giving first-time buyers a leg-up, they push prices even further out of reach. In doing so, they reward the Tory base: people who already own their homes.

There’s far more on these themes in our Land for the Many report. Unsurprisingly, it drove the billionaire press into a frenzy of denunciation. Which kind of proved our point about power. landforthemany.uk