Stepping stone
You have to wonder if they – the Government, this one, or any of them – take it seriously. Housing that is.
On November 13th, the Government made its 16th appointment to the office of Minister of State for Housing since taking power in 2010. The 16th appointment, yet the 15th minister as the new one – Lee Rowley – is an old one, having served in the same role for about 15 minutes under Liz Truss.
If the brevity of his previous stint is a record, the duration of his predecessors in this office isn’t much longer – the average period of service since 2010 being around 10.5 months. Labour have been a little more committed to the position, its ministers managing to stay in post for an average of nearly 18 months between 1997 and 2010. And that’s a number boosted by Yvette Cooper, the all-time record holder since 1997, who did two years and eight months.
Over the last 26 years, since the 1997 General Election, we have had 24 housing ministers averaging a time in office of just over 13 months each. Thus you have to wonder if they – the Government, this one, any of them – take it seriously.
We have an existential crisis in housing: in planning, in delivery, in supply, in skills and in affordability – especially if you’re under 40. Every government pitches itself as the one to solve the problem and, following its October conference (more of which on page 14), Labour gives the impression that it sees housing as a crucial electoral battleground.
Yet surely 10 months, if Conservative, or 18 months, if Labour, is no time at all to either influence policy, effect change or, better still, become a Subject Matter Expert on housing. It seems that the job is not seen as a serious one and merely a stepping stone for other offices; and that lack of commitment to the role belies any promises made at conferences or in manifestos.
As has been said here before, you can’t make capitalists out of people without capital – and, traditionally, for most that means property ownership. The prospect of home ownership – or impossibility of it – may well weigh heavily on younger minds come election time and prove highly influential in its outcome. Mr Rowley has 14 months (max), possibly only six, to make his mark before the next GE.
What are the odds, should he last that long?
