Give housing incentives to older homeowners – not first-time buyers

Why doesn’t the government encourage companies to build not starter, but retirement homes, asks Mary Dejevsky

We have country set against town, those who own their own homes set against those who do not, and younger people set against older people (Getty)

The government is in trouble (again) over its plans to encourage more housebuilding. Its Levelling Up Bill sets targets for councils to build more houses and prescribes penalties if they don’t. Nearly 50 Conservative MPs oppose any target-setting, arguing that local councils and local people should have the final say.

We are back to the old argument about Nimbyism: the interests of those with nice houses in desirably leafy places are seen as pitted against the interests of those who cannot afford either to buy even a modest first home, or to move to a bigger place to accommodate their growing family. The former will fight tooth and nail to stop a charmless estate being built on the green fields next door. The latter need somewhere, preferably somewhere pleasant and convenient, to live.

The Conservative Party has an ideological foot in both camps and struggles to please both. It was spooked by the Liberal Democrat victory in the Chesham and Amersham by-election last summer, where Tory plans to ease planning rules nationally became a serious vote-loser in a hitherto safe seat. But not providing more homes is seen as helping to drive prices up and locking younger people out of the market. Doing nothing – or not very much – thus loses the party votes, too, not to mention, potentially, the bedrock of its future support.