There is a clear need for immediate new housing investment in the health and care sectors in the United Kingdom.
An excellent presentation by Metropolitan Thames Valley, a market leader in the provision of National Health Service (NHS) staff accommodation, set out the needs of London at the Healthcare Show, Excel Centre, London on 26 June 2019.
For the health sector, around 80% of homes built on NHS sites are for sale at prices out of reach of most NHS key workers. A nurse would have to save for 53 years to afford the deposit of a typical UK property. Some 94% of UK towns are unaffordable to nurses.
The problem is most extreme in London with 40% of London nurses planning to leave the capital in the next five years. This is because average London house prices have risen over 37% and rents have increased by nearly 25% over the past five years. The price of a 7-day 4-zone Travelcard transport has also increased by 25%. Yet nurse’s salaries have only increased 3.5% over the same time period. All salaries across the NHS in London have only increased by 3.8% with healthcare assistants pay increased the least at 0.9%.
The UK Housing Association sector, where a private company owns the houses and are responsible for their upkeep but rent them out to tenants who receive monetary help, is leading the way with innovative solutions to address the problem. I like their Mission Statement which is “to ensure everyone in the country can live in a quality home that they can afford”.
There is so much more to be done even with healthy returns for wise investors …
