I say #YesToHomes

Yesterday, my ward co-councillor Heather Morris and myself, were both contacted by one of our residents asking what we were doing about the acute housing shortage in Exeter.















"We are in the middle of a housing shortage that shows little sign of fading.

I believe that we need to build more homes in Exeter and would like to see the council do more to get the right 
homes, in the right places, at the right price for people here.

Do you think we are building enough homes in Exeter City? And what is the council doing to end the housing shortage?"

Too many councillors are willing to say 'no' to new housing because they don't understand the need for homes or are concerned about existing residents."

This e-mail came from the campaign #YesToHomes, organised by the National 

Housing Federation.

I have been saying for a long time that governments of all hues have bee failing intheir duty to provide sufficient decent homes to meet current and future housingneeds.

So it was easy for my to sign up to the campaign's aims: "The right homes being 

built in the right place and at the right price."

What is going to harder is to deliver that aim.

The extent of the current problem was highlighted in last year's report by the NHF "Home Truths: The housing market in South West England".

In the core strategy of the Council, as outlined in the Local Plan adopted in 
February 2012, the aim under policy CP3 is the development of at least 12,000 
new homes across the city over the next 15 years.

At a recent Scrutiny Community meeting held on 28 May 2013, the Portfolio 
Holder for Housing, Cllr Rob Hannaford, presented his priorities for the coming 
year.

Within these priorities is a desire to deliver a complex mix of initiatives to meet 
Exeter's current housing needs. Indeed.Exeter City Council has just finished a 
series of consultation events on a new housing strategy which will be presented tothe Scrutiny Community meeting in the next round of meetings on 03 September 2013.

Looking at the figures for housing planned, in the pipeline, awaiting planning 
permission or in the pre-application stage it appears that in the next few years 
Exeter will see:

5441 market homes - 396 shared ownership - 1336 for affordable rent - 53 for 
social rent = 7226 in total.

The #YesToHomes campaign worried that councillors are saying 'no' to new 
housing because they don't understand the need for homes or are concerned 
about existing residents. The figures above prove that this isn't the case in Exeter.

The campaign is also worried that local residents say 'no' to new housing - 

the NIMBY syndrome. 

NIMBY is a well-known acronym - Not in My Back Yard, but what about 

NOTE - Not Over There Either.

BANANA - Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything.

CAVE - Citizens Against Virtually Everything.

NOPE - Not On Planet Earth.

When the Local Plan proposed a new development expanding the South West of Exeter by up to 500 new homes (accompanied by a plan from Teignbridge DistrictCouncil to add another 2,000 homes on their side of the city boundary), ECC 

planners devised a series of workshops in conjunction with Alphington Village 

Forum. The results of this long-term working together were presented to the 

residents of Alphington at a public meeting at the Village Hall on 18 July 2013.

I hope that this shows that ECC and councillors like myself are saying 

#YesToHomes, and as time goes on this will rise from a whisper to a shout.