Quote The Video Ref="The Video Ref"How do you propose reducing rent, given that:
a) rent is set in response to market conditions and the basic laws of supply and demand;
b) London is a desirable place to live (God knows why);
b) many landlords have mortgages and simply cannot afford to reduce the amount of rent they charge.'"
a) and b) are the same thing and I answered that in my previous post.
As to the last point if landlords are so geared up that they risk losing their properties if they had to face reduction in rents then that is tough luck. If a large social housing program was embarked upon and that increased the housing supply thus reducing rents, would you be suggesting we compensate landlords?
We are seemingly stuck in a vicious circle that shows private provision of housing doesn't work. It is one of low availability, landlords who do take on high mortgages and thus charge high rents (or just charge high rents because they can!) and the result is a ridiculous housing benefit bill.
You can't simply have a London that is just for the rich unless you want to start paying cleaners, refuse collection workers and so on £50K plus salaries so something has got to change and shipping people out which may end up costing them their job as pointed out in another post is not the answer. There is only one way to fix it and that is reduce rents.
