‘It’s time to get serious about building more homes’

Bristol is undeniably grappling with a severe housing crisis, characterised by exorbitant rents and a subpar housing stock.

To combat these ongoing challenges, it is imperative for all political parties to prioritise the housing crisis in their forthcoming manifestos.

Rent controls have emerged as a seemingly convenient solution for those who may be hesitant to tackle the rental crisis by addressing its root cause: a lack of supply.

Year after year, average rents in Bristol have surged by 12.9 per cent, as reported by the Living Rent Commission.

This relentless increase in housing costs has forced thousands of families to allocate a growing portion of their income toward housing expenses, often affecting the most vulnerable in Bristol.

However, the proposed remedy, rent controls, is not the panacea that many in Bristol believe it to be. Activists have championed rent controls as a quick fix to the escalating rental rates in the city. If only the solution to our rental crisis was so simple.

On the surface, the idea of reducing housing costs and redistributing wealth from landlords to renters appears attractive. However, the reality is far more complex, and those genuinely interested in resolving the housing crisis must resist this policy and see it for what it is: a problem-causing sticking plaster for a huge issue.

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Read more: ‘Tackling the housing crisis and climate crisis are not mutually exclusive’

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The sole viable solution to the housing crisis is the construction of more homes where people want to live.

Rent controls have been implemented and tested in various global cities, including Berlin and Stockholm. Berlin’s brief experiment with rent controls stifled the supply of available rental properties, exacerbating the shortage and making it even more challenging for renters to secure housing.

Moreover, rent controls have given rise to unintended problems in European cities, such as Stockholm, where one in five young tenants admitted to participating in black-market rental agreements.

If Bristol follows the calls from a wide range of political voices to introduce rent caps, it is likely to encounter similar challenges without providing a long-term solution to the ongoing housing crisis.

The genuine solution lies in building more homes throughout the city, in areas where Bristol residents wish to reside. Achieving this will require collective action from city residents in favour of housing in a movement to combat the current ‘nimby’ movement.

Housing proposals like Broadwalk shopping centre must be supported by political parties that genuinely aim to reduce rental costs.

For too long, proposing rent controls has simply been used as a way for councillors to buck their responsibility when it comes to building housing.

Cities that have prioritised increased home construction have witnessed a slowdown in rent increases, and in some instances, even reductions in rental costs, as seen in Minneapolis, where rents have decreased and continue to do so because of huge amounts of building.

Bristol must adopt a resolute pro-building and pro-development approach, mirroring the success stories of cities that have tackled their housing crises by addressing the root cause. It is by building more homes that Bristol can pave the way for a more affordable and sustainable housing future.

The clamour for rent controls as a solution to Bristol’s housing crisis may sound tempting, but it ultimately offers a superficial fix to a deeply rooted problem.

The housing crisis can only be effectively addressed by constructing more homes across the city, and this requires the collective effort of both residents and political parties. Come May voters must reward councillors who are backing housing and punish those who are preventing it.

Aden Harris is a part-time intern at Bristol24/7.

Main photo: Bristol City Council

Read next:

• Where should Bristol build homes in the midst of a housing crisis?
• Calls for Bristol to bring in rent controls amid unaffordable housing costs
• New landlord licenses could improve renting in Bristol

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