RICS has called on the Government to balance up its ineffective long term housing strategy by launching a ‘Help to Rent’ scheme, after a damning report this week.

The Royal Institution of Surveyors (RICS) study concluded that successive Governments had failed to deliver enough affordable housing, after slamming the former Labour Government for not being able to prevent the biggest housing crisis in a generation.

Detailing current initiatives the report stated: “Current government initiatives have focused on creating demand for new homes almost exclusively for those able to buy. There is a new “Help to Buy” policy but no new “Help to Rent”. We believe that this emphasis is strategically unwise. It ignores the fundamental changes in the UK housing market since the mid-1990’s that has involved an increased share of people under 35 who now rent their homes, for longer periods, and that it is private rental supply increases that have housed growing household numbers in this millennium. Policy is addressing an old idea rather than the new market.”

The report warned: “It’s time that UK administrations turned their attention not just to a balanced renting-owning approach but also to the supply side of the market.”

RICS identified the four following areas for the coalition government to improve housing conditions in the UK:

• Finding more land for new homes: Particularly, in resisting the temptation to alter the National Planning Policy Framework in England encouraging local authorities to reduce levels of local variation and complication;
• Bringing new investors into social housing: Proportional regulation of registered social housing providers, with care taken to avoid arbitrary regulatory approaches, and avoiding making investment in the sector seem any more unattractive to third parties, subsidising capital where strictly necessary;
• Increasing investment in the private rental sector: Request for all political parties to not introduce rent controls in the private rental sector, and for the Government to continue to support the Montague Recommendations to increase institutional investment in the sector; and
• Good homes for many, not a few: Government policies need to facilitate housing supply of all tenures rather than showing bias to just one or two – not just providing adequate resources to meet policy aims but to fashion an effective system that minimises the cost of good homes for all.

The study attacked what the body labelled as a ‘short-term’ approach to the market, instead calling on the current political-powers-that-be to double the current 100,000 new homes target on publically owned land.

RICS called for a large-scale audit in order to identify all land and property owned by Government departments, local authorities, and other public bodies.

In addition, the Institute asked that 33 per cent of all homes developed on public land should be considered for subsidised housing, allowing communities to reap benefit from publically-owned developments.

A host of other measures – including seminars for buyers, required building times for landowners and universal selling guidelines – will aim to both increase land available and reduce the cost to potential homeowners.

Interestingly, the body advised for the creation of an independent committee to advise politicians on behalf of the industry on housing supply.

RICS chose to exemplify its disregard towards Government legislation within the sector, by criticising the Right to Buy scheme, under which council housing tenants can buy their homes at a discount.

The report claimed: “[it] frequently reduces the supply of affordable rented homes in a locality”

The Body went on to argue that better co-ordination is needed between ministers in Westminster and their counterparts in the devolved institutions, which are largely responsible for housing policies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland,.

In particular, the under-occupancy penalty on housing benefit claimants in social housing deemed to have surplus bedrooms should not apply where the tenants are unlikely to find alternative suitable accommodation in the area.

RICS recognises that “decent housing for poorer households always requires subsidies”, and recommended that the Government should prioritise capital subsidies to best encourage low-income housing provision.

A spokesman said: “We recommend that UK Administrations need to present a clear audit of what, and who, current investments are supporting. They also need to indicate what volumes of low-income housing supply and output they anticipate when not-for-profit assets are more significantly geared by 2015.”

In addition, as part of its efforts to address challenges facing the property sector, RICS also noted that there “are enough valuers to meet current levels of demand”, despite recent allegations.

A spokesman for the Institute said: “The problem the sector is facing is not one of capacity but one of unsuitable market conditions, resulting in many professionals no longer being willing to assess a property’s value on behalf of a lender.

“Put simply, it is often not in the valuer’s interest to take a job.”

As a result, RICS has asked for additional evidence to be presented to an independent commission in the autumn which will further examine sustainable solutions for the valuations industry.