Housing White Paper: building great expectations?

There’s a sense of excitement, The Housing White Paper lands in my inbox; will it give a Spring bounce to our housing market? The screen goes grey as 104 pages flip past, am I missing something? A  new thought, idea, plan or action? Theresa May, Prime Minister, couldn’t be in Parliament today as she is busy with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, which is understandable, she cannot be everywhere, and her Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is qualified to present this hugely important document. Mrs May says, “Our broken housing market is one of the greatest barriers to progress in Britain today. Whether buying or renting, the fact is that housing is increasingly unaffordable – particularly for ordinary working class people who are struggling to get by. “Today the average house costs almost eight times average earnings – an all-time record. As a result it is difficult to get on the housing ladder, and the proportion of people living in the private rented sector has doubled since 2000. “These high housing costs hurt ordinary working people the most.” All fine and well, but what is the grand plan? It isn’t grand, it doesn’t even seem to be a…