Phil Spencer wants experts not politicians to solve the housing crisis

Location, Location, Location presenter Phil Spencer has called for the creation of a National Housing Commission, with powers to transform the housing market, saying, “our chronic shortage of homes needs long-term solutions, not quick fixes.”

Writing in i news he claims that the problems in the housing market need to be considered by experts, rather than used as vote-winning strategies by politicians.

Spencer, a former buying agent who hosts the popular Channel 4 show with Kirsty Allsop, also co-founded the property advice website Move IQ.

He said: “Barely a month goes by without the launch of some new measure – be it an incentive for first-time buyers or a squeeze on buy-to-let investors – which generates headlines and soundbites aplenty for the Government. Whether this constant tinkering actually makes a difference to the fundamental problems in the housing market is another matter.

 “Cynics conclude that such grand ministerial announcements are more about photo opportunities than fixing long-term, systemic issues. I, for one, would be happy never to see another picture of a smiling Chancellor of the Exchequer in a hardhat pretending to lay bricks on a building site.”

According to Phil Spencer, a model for political involvement in the housing sector is the  setting of interest rates by independent Bank of England experts. 

“Days after he became Chancellor, Gordon Brown stunned financial markets by handing control of monetary policy to the Bank’s independent experts. Two decades on and they still meet every month, to objectively and authoritatively set interest rates according to the needs of the economy – not party politics.

“This is important because sometimes policies, which work in the short-term, do long-term damage. For example, Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy scheme was enormously popular at the time and it did help millions of people get on the housing ladder for the first time. But Britain is now paying a high price for its legacy – a cripplingly low level of social housing, which leaves too many people competing for insufficient and expensive private housing.” 

Read more about Phil Spencer’s comments in Estate Agent Today.