‘If net migration to the UK is allowed to continue at the present record level of around 600,000 per year, the UK population is projected to grow by more than 15 million by 2046 – far surpassing the level of 80 million before mid-century. It is estimated that this would result in the need to build between six and eight million more homes – equal to between 15 and 18 more cities the size of Birmingham.’ migrationwatchuk.org, June 2023.
With record levels of immigration such as these increasing the demand for housing, it’s no wonder that property and rent prices have soared and that there is now a shortage of affordable homes in the country and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to argue that there is not a housing crisis but in fact an immigration crisis. Ending both permanent settlement immigration and accepting refugees for citizenship and housingwill relieve some of the pressure on the housing market although some development will of course be required as there is now a desperate need for affordable accommodation throughout the country due to insufficient house building in previous years.
Protecting the countryside and green belt
We will protect our countryside and greenbelt and prioritise brown field redevelopment but as a last resort will use small parcels of land adjacent to towns and villages (providing they are not currently being used for agriculture) to build only essential social housing to fulfil local need if required. Those already with children and young couples wishing to start families will have priority status, those who have waited on the housing list the longest and those with the longest established ancestral family connection to the area will be housed first.
Housing provision, or to be more accurate, the lack of it at an affordable price is a topic that intersects with many different but nonetheless interconnected areas of national and local policy making. Therefore it must be held in mind that some of following proposals have the potential to bring remedy within a fairly short period of time whereas others will take many years to be effective in addressing what is in our opinion one of the worst betrayals enacted upon the British people by the self-serving globalist political establishment in the UK, that being the failure to provide an affordable and secure home for the very building blocks of nationhood themselves, our families.
National policies:
End permanent settlement immigration and end accepting refugees for citizenship and housing
According to the Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey in 2019, 65% of the additional households created in the UK since 1995 for whom birth place data was recorded have been headed by a person born overseas. This statistic is one of many which clearly show the extent to which recent levels of mass immigration have impacted our housing market and with consecutive governments over recent decades struggling to add 0.6% annually to our housing stock via new builds, it’s no surprise that demand and thus prices have been kept high. The scandalous failing inherent in all of this is that many young British couples have been prevented from getting a first rung on the housing ladder let alone an affordable rented roof over their heads in order to raise their families. Ending permanent settlement immigration and ending the practice of accepting refugees for citizenship and housing is therefore a key policy of The National Housing Party UK which seeks to take the first firm but necessary steps required to effectively address our housing crisis. An issue which has negatively affected so many and which likewise has had so many detrimental knock-on effects to our pursuit of a thriving nation and a contented society.
Nationalise the residential housing market with prevention of foreign ownership of land and residential property in the UK
Shelter is necessary for survival and a house fulfils this fundamental human need for all of us. However, to address the current unaffordable costs of housing we must begin the long process of returning our thinking back to this original value proposition and move away from expectation of financial gain through investment in the housing market. This is of course a long term goal and one which will have to be done slowly and with consideration to the wider economic effects of smoothing out the speculative housing bubble. However an achievable first step on that journey would be to remove UK housing from the global foreign property investor market where large private equity players and even other countries look for returns in a market with profits controlled by easily manipulated factors of supply and demand. A policy preventing foreign ownership of UK land and residential property would at least reduce the potential volume of capital available to pump the UK market and thus it would initiate a manageable return to proportionate valuations of British homes for the British people when considered against their average salary levels. It must not be underestimated just how quickly the disparity between average annual wage and average house price has grown in the UK. In just 50 years from the mid 1970s, we have seen a home go from costing 4.1 times the average salary to an average of 8.8 times today. An edificial testament to the lack of nationalist protectionism for the British people at the hands of inflation-generating economic mismanagement, corporate profiteering and real value wage suppression. The latter caused in no small part by the open borders mass movement of cheap labour into the country which has served only to transfer the extra work that we now have to do in order to survive into greater profits for those behind the policy.
Establish a British Building Society to introduce long term and low interest mortgage products into the UK market
Enact legislation to charter the establishment of a not-for-profit British Building Society to provide low interest and long term mortgage products to residential customers in the UK. These would be initially capitalised through a sovereign wealth fund granted from central government using funds redirected from foreign aid (£12.75 Billion per year) or grossly expensive and unnecessary carbon sequestration projects justified under net zero based energy policy (£40 Billion estimated as the total cost for just one such project at Drax Power Station). These products would allow young couples to have at least part of their mortgage in the form of a low interest 35 year loan, this will protect them to some extent from cost spikes caused by having to remortgage during periods characterised by high interest rates, not only will they have known fixed costs to help with their budgeting but they will have more money in their pockets in their younger years when they need as much help as they can whilst raising their families.
Establishment of a state owned not-for-profit construction company to deliver rentable social housing at the lowest price point possible
Thispolicy would be put into place through the government purchase of an existing construction company who would then be tasked to undertake the one specific role of building social housing stock to be rented at the most affordable prices achievable. All other house building including affordable shared ownership schemes would remain within the open market competitive private sector.
Waive section 106 developer contribution agreements for both rentable social housing and affordable shared ownership schemes
In order to both speed planning consent and deliver social housing building projects at minimum cost to the working classes, we would enact legislation to waive section 106 developer contribution agreements. Any new infrastructure costs relating to any such planning applications would be borne by the consenting local authority in question and reclaimed by them from central funding under a developer exemption reclamation scheme.
End the right to buy
The right to buy scheme has proven to be false economy for Great Britain, the revenue raised from the sales has not, as promised, been used to fund the further building of more social housing stock, rather it has been used to creatively generate more funds for the treasury without the need to hold the political hot potato of raising levels of general taxation. A rented council house should be yours for life and it should pass onto any of your direct family members should they suitably qualify for it. This not only gives security and peace of mind to the tenant but it helps to build social cohesion within communities due to reduced transience. We will end the depletion of our social housing stock through the right to buy scheme, a practice which ultimately has negative consequences for the poorest amongst the working class by progressively reducing the availability of affordable lifelong accommodation for them. In the event that they find themselves in a position to take the first rung on the property ladder, then both the open market and shared ownership affordable sectors remain available for them.
Regulate second home ownership and full time holiday lets
Despite the inclusion of firmly supportive socialist policies within the body politic of nationalism, its principles are firmly rooted in the competitive free market model of economy. Private enterprise, personal responsibility, the right to private property and the service to nation within a regulated capitalist meritocracy are all key elements. Therefore the regulation between the contrary rights of second home ownership occurring as a result of positive wealth creation and that of the need for housing within a local community is one requiring the balanced judgment of all interests concerned. That said a clear need for some regulation is required as many quaint coastal villages in areas such as Cornwall have second home ownership levels above 80%, and one such village, Portloe, situated on The Roseland Peninsula is now reported to be the first village in Cornwall without a single child registered as a permanent resident. As nationalists we believe that blood flows downstream to money, in other words the economy exists to serve the people not the other way around, our decision therefore is weighted slightly in favour of the resident community and we would regulate a maximum level of second home ownership and full-time holiday lets of 40% in any given area. This would be applicable in granular detail from the individual street to the village to the parish level etc. Air BnBs and other such holiday lets where at least one person is resident on a full-time basis would be exempt from this regulation.
Place a legal duty on universities to provide 50% of their student accommodation external to the private rented sector within 10 years
Following the introduction of tuition fees and student loans in 1998 British universities have transitioned into becoming profit making businesses, a process that has been speeded by the increased provision of more lucrative places for foreign students over the last decade or so. It is therefore only right in our opinion that some of their profits are now reinvested into housing more of their students so that the demand burden caused by them is taken away from local housing stocks. The National Housing Party UK government would raise legislation to place alegal duty on universities to provide 50% of their student accommodation external to the private rented sector within 10 years.
Introduce minimum standards within the planning system for the beautification and enlightenment of our built environment
Our towns and cities serve the people in two distinct ways. The first is to facilitate the necessary daily functioning of a civilised society by providing all the infrastructure that we need – homes, work places, transport hubs, libraries, courts etc. However, their second, and in our opinion more important role, is to make us feel connected to our ancestry and history, to our inherited mythos of shared philosophical and spiritual values that our people and our nation hold dear to their hearts. They should make us feel at home and even more importantly inspire and enlighten us. Architecture should be imbued with all these characteristics and with an inherent sense of beauty which is both pleasing to the eye and uplifting for the soul. Additionally it should at least reference and be in keeping with the unique defining characteristics of the local area, use of traditional red and blond sandstones in Scotland or silver granite in Cornwall for example. The highly ornate and divinely proportioned Renaissance architecture of European cities built in the 15th and 16th centuries are one such example of a culturally rich style with such characteristics, and while we do not advocate for a direct adoption of this style due to its obvious cost implications, we believe that some form of minimum beautification and enlightenment standards should be enshrined in planning law to ensure that future generations benefit from any modern development of this type. To this end we would enact legislation requiring all planning applications to be assessed on their visual impacts when considered against such beautification and enlightenment standards. Furthermore large public and private developments would have a legal duty placed upon them to produce realistic digital graphics of any proposed development and to make them publicly viewable at the pre-consent stage. If members of the local area did not think the design was sufficiently pleasing to the eye or sufficiently in keeping with the traditional architectural theme of their area, then they would have the right by local referendum to request a redesign. A petition containing signatures from more than 5% of the electorate within the parliamentary constituency concerned would trigger the process.
A repugnant combination of cost saving and cultural Marxism has infected the once noble principles of classic architectural design, the creation of bleak, ugly and utilitarian buildings reminiscent of the communist era Soviet Union is of course entirely deliberate. The aim clearly being to psychologically depress, demoralise and demotivate any given population, a subversive and malevolent form of attack that even if you do not consider yourself to be part of the British nationalist movement you should be aware of and you should stand against. For our part The National Housing Party UK will comprehensively reject this anti-human affront to our dignity, to our culture and to our nation. We place our faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and we will fight on to defeat the proto-dystopian development of our homeland with all our heart and soul.
Local Policies:
Review local parish neighbourhood development plans to ensure they provide sufficient one bedroom accommodation for the elderly
Provision of sufficient one bedroom accommodation within local NDPs is essential to ensure the most efficient use of our current housing stock. Allowing elderly couples (or singles) to move and downsize locally will not only help them as they struggle to pay the higher council tax and energy bills associated with larger family homes, but it will make more family homes available for young couples wanting to have children. Having enough one bedroom accommodation available within the parish NDP will also allow for this efficiency gaining process to occur without breaking the social connections of the elderly folk within their local area.
