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An analysis of the role of political failure in the

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exacerbation of the Housing Crisis in the United

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Kingdom
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Word Count: 2000

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Having grown up in Newcastle-upon-Tyne for 14 years, I have witnessed the detrimental

effects of poverty. Living in the area with the highest unemployment rate (“Labour Market

in the Regions of the UK - Office for National Statistics”) and highest child poverty rate in the

UK (North East Child Poverty Commission) meant that I saw the detriment of poverty every

day. This economic inequality made me question why so many, including some of my

primary school friends, were suffering so much.

This intrigue was fuelled when I moved to Leicester as a teenager, and I saw that this

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problem is a national issue. Living in the city centre, I saw homeless people bear winter
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upon winter without shelter, making me wonder why they couldn’t access housing. Housing
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is a fundamental human right outlined in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human

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Rights (UDHR) (United Nations Human Rights), so should be available to all at an affordable
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price. As such, I have defined the ‘housing crisis’ as a period of difficulty for many citizens of
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a nation to access adequate and affordable homes in which basic human rights, like the
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right to food and shelter, can be facilitated. This crisis strips many UK citizens of a
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supposedly inalienable, internationally recognised right, and therefore I have researched

and engaged in understanding whether political has caused the housing crisis to spiral, so

explaining the circumstances of people I see around me every day.

There is naturally an assumption that the responsibility for housing lies with those who hold

sovereignty over the territory. This would lie with both the local and national governments,

and a well-functioning relationship between them would be necessary to combat the crisis.
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As such, in order to engage with the local government aspect, I interviewed Harborough

District Council’s minister for housing, Cllr Simon Whelband, to ask him about the local

housing crisis, what he does in his role to combat this, and what his relationship with the

national government looks like. In order to evaluate the effects and popularity of his plans, I

took my engagement from a regional to local level, questioning 20 of my neighbours, most

of whom voted for his party in local elections, about their opinions on the crisis and whether

they would agree with his proposed actions. This takes the citizens’ perspective and could

highlight obstacles for local and national government in relation to their plans to combat the

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housing crisis.

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Further, I attempted to contact 5 local housing associations, as it would have been a

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different perspective from which I could have engaged directly with victims of the crisis.
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Unfortunately, none responded to my contact, potentially highlighting the vast demand for
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housing associations in my local area, and possibly even across the entire country.
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Taking the crisis to a national level, I also attended two Conservative Party events, one

leadership hustings and one campaign event for Rishi Sunak, in order to evaluate Liz Truss’

and Rishi Sunak’s policies on housing, communication with local governments and see if

they had prioritised these issues for their potential governments.

All my experiences highlighted the necessity of intergovernmental communication in

ensuring the housing crisis is solved. Whelband highlighted the national government’s policy
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of necessitating the delivery of five years’ worth of housing development sites to the

national government, branding this the ‘five-year housing supply’. This highlights an

interdependence between local and national governments to develop housing in a region,

something which all 20 neighbours I interviewed considered crucial in delivering housing,

potentially because of the power held by the national government to diversify funding for

housing developments across the country. Whelband claims to have delivered over 7 years’

worth of development areas in Harborough to the national government, shifting the

responsibility of developing housing to the national government. He also expressed

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disappointment about the national government’s lack of communication with local

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government, which he described as ‘crucial to the tackling of this problem in every region of
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the UK’. This highlights an overtly political responsibility for housing, as the local
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government relies on the national government to deliver funding to build houses regionally,
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ameliorating both compliance with Article 25 of the UDHR and the UK’s reputation on a
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global scale.
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Whelband’s disappointment was shared by a member of Leicestershire County Council at

Sunak’s campaign event, who said that the national government’s communication with the

council has been ‘appalling’ since being the UK’s worst funded county council (Leicestershire

County Council). This further highlights the interdependence between local and national

government in the UK, and necessary, but absent, communication between these bodies.

Locally, this has a knock-on effect, as Whelband himself admitted homelessness in

Harborough has increased over the last three years, which I have witnessed. This worsens
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the human rights record of the UK – as a liberal democracy with a HDI score of 0.929 in 2021

(United Nations), this contradicts the UK’s liberal value of compassion.

However, a different perspective can be seen in the reluctance of many of my neighbours to

have new housing developments around our village. Although all 20 people surveyed

claimed to care about the housing crisis, only 3 thought it acceptable to build new houses

within 1 mile of the village due to concerns about the destruction of the countryside and

increased traffic. This can be considered a realist view in a local context – there is a problem

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for most residents with not having power over where housing is built, so decreasing

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homelessness around Harborough is considered less important than protecting their own
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local area. This poses a problem for local government, who would be weary to anger their
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own citizens by building unpopular housing developments, as seen in the backlash to a

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proposed development of 150 homes in North-West Leicestershire (Martin and Richardson),

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where local residents set up an opposition group as non-violent protest against the proposal
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(Mack). As such, the appeasement of voters in a democracy could lead to a difficulty in

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creating housing developments, especially if communities which are characterised by a

realist mindset exist commonly Harborough, as the local government appeases their voters

to stay in power.

This can be taken to the national level, where, in the hustings event, neither Truss nor Sunak

mentioned the housing crisis in their opening statements to party members. Their non-

prioritisation of housing bodes badly for a potential solution to the housing crisis, but

highlights the Conservatives’ will to connect with the majority of their membership, of
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which 80% belong to the ABC11 demographic (Williams). This group constitutes 53% of the

UK population (Williams), highlighting a disconnect between the Tory Party and the C2DE2

demographic, who are most in need of housing support. This disconnect is reflected by my

neighbours, who are all in the ABC1 demographic, thus generally worry less about housing

than inflation and pension rates. This may reflect a specifically ‘Conservative’ position, with

the government favouring the needs of those on whom the government has traditionally

relied to retain their power rather than steadfastly following a liberal ideal of manifesting

human rights, even if detrimental to the government’s power in the long term. This position,

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taken with the fact that all of my neighbours claimed to care about the housing crisis, but

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only 3 thought building houses around the village was acceptable, highlights a so-called
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‘NIMBYism’3 present in my community, and potentially other rural communities in the UK.
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‘NIMBYism’ is seen across the UK – for example, it was explicitly found in Wales to hinder
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planning developments (Welsh Government) – so explaining how this problem on a regional

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scale could have exacerbated the national housing crisis. Further, this attitude again makes
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it seem politically beneficial for the Conservatives to appease traditional voters by not
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building houses on these grounds, so political failure due to appeasement of voters is a

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consequence of ‘NIMBYism’, and a cause for the catalysis of the housing crisis.

1
ABC1 is an amalgamation of the three highest NRS Social Grades, a measure of social ‘class’ in Britain A, B and
C1, representing up the higher, middle and lower middle classes respectively. ABC1 therefore references the
whole British middle class (NRS).
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C2DE is an amalgamation of the three lowest NRS Social Grades, a measure of social ‘class’ in Britain. C2, D
and E represent the skilled, semi-skilled and lowest grade workers or unemployed respectively. C2DE therefore
references the entire British working class and unemployed (NRS).
3
‘NIMBY’ is an acronym for ‘Not In My Back Yard’, describing the attitude of some communities of claiming to
care about an issue but refusing to alleviate it by putting plans into action around their community as it would
harm the quality of their surroundings, so making them unhappy.
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This catering to the government’s traditional electorate is further manifested in their non-

reaction to the non-violent but highly disruptive protests of pressure groups, including

‘Insulate Britain’, which calls for the UK to ‘insulate Britain’s homes’ in order to stop forcing

families ‘to choose between cold children or hungry children’ (Insulate Britain). My

unintentional engagement with child poverty while growing up in Newcastle means I may be

inclined to sympathise with their non-violent protest, as I myself have seen the detrimental

effects of malnutrition first-hand as a young boy, but their disruptive actions, such as

blocking the M25 motorway (BBC News), made me feel this protest was only self-disruptive.

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Further, I saw this direct action as undemocratic, highlighting the problems caused in not

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allowing the electorate to have a say in the matter, and I hypothesised these groups may be
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less likely to achieve their initial aim by disrupting freedom of movement, so making people
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resentful of their pressure group. I surveyed my neighbours on this matter to see if this
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hypothesis was correct in my community, and of the 20 neighbours I surveyed, only 3

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thought these groups would enact positive change, and one of these is an active member of
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‘Extinction Rebellion’. 13 of my neighbours considered these groups ‘highly disruptive’ and

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15 considered their actions ‘self-destructive’, and this view was shared on a national level by
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both Truss and Sunak in the hustings event, who both said their actions galvanised people

against their cause, and that the Conservative Party is committed to ensuring lower bills for

households, so alleviating the financial pressures on gaining housing. These views, shared

also by the Labour Party (Soteriou), highlights disruptive non-violent protest on a national

scale has negative consequences for the electorate, both locally and nationally. In relation

to housing, this worsens the potential of electing candidates more dedicated to insulating

houses, and highlights there may be a political failure in the carrying out of disruptive

protests to achieve their goal. Further, power is given to the government by the electorate,
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so if the actions of ‘Insulate Britain’ are counter-productive, it highlights a shift against their

policy of insulating houses across Britain, which would lower housing bills, making housing

more sustainable and affordable. By virtue of living in a democratic state, the government is

less likely to enact such policies if it seems unpopular to the electorate due to the disruptive

protests, so extending the crisis further as homes become more expensive to pay for (e.g.,

due to heating bills increasing), therefore making housing less affordable, which blocks

more lower income families from getting sustainable housing. As such, the housing crisis

ironically continues due to the actions of such pressure groups.

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Through my engagement, I have seen that political failure has contributed significantly to
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the exacerbation of the housing crisis in the UK. My failed attempt to contact housing
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associations could highlight the overwhelming reliance on them by many families in my local
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area, and even across the country. The necessary channels of communication between local
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and national government are not strong enough to effectively deliver housing funding,
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which, as seen through my interview with Cllr Whelband and Sunak’s campaign event,
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requires interdependence between local and national government to supply housing at the

rate that homelessness and poverty increases. I believe the onus rests more on the national

government, as it holds the power to disperse funding to UK councils, provided they receive

a ‘five-year housing supply’ from them. This is exacerbated by the government’s non-

prioritisation of housing support, potentially due to its more realist internal view to deliver

policies which their traditional supporters support, neglecting liberal human rights

commitments. Locally, the ‘NIMBY’ attitude of my neighbours hinders housing progress, as

any developments would alienate voters from government decisions, so making local
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housing developments, and potentially across the UK, more difficult to build. Finally, the

decision by some pressure groups to protest disruptively, although non-violently, is

considered counter-productive by Sunak, Truss and my local community, making progress in

this area less likely, so allowing bills to increase and decreasing housing affordability. As

such, on a local, regional and national level, I have witnessed political failure exacerbate the

housing crisis in the UK to a severe degree, and pressure groups do not aid the pursuit of an

end to this devastating crisis.

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