It is a truth universally acknowledged, that housing is a major problem across the UK. Over the course of the years, the housing prices in London and other major cities in England have risen alarmingly. Back in the 1980s £30,000 was enough for first-time buyers a new home; in 2017, this figure wouldn't even cover your deposit, with properties routinely costing more than £580,000. This means anyone looking to purchase a house in London will need to earn about £170,000 anually, making renting the only option for most of us.
Naked House is a new innitiative backed by Mayor Sadiq Khan, aimed to tackle London's ever growing housing crisis by creating a cheaper alternative. Launched by four Londoners specialised in urban design and affordable housing delivery, the Naked House project is exactly what the name suggests: a property with no decoration, no furniture, no partition walls nor flooring; only a bathroom and a sink. Basically, a blank canvas which supports the 'do it yourself' idea, allowing owners to expand, built on and adapt as they please.
Sneak peaks of early designs by OMMX architects show grey terraced houses with wide window panels and brick walls, as wells as compact flats without a visible division between the bedroom and the living room. The structures will all be built to 'high environmental standards.'
The launchers are committed with affordability, assuring the basic design makes a naked house 15% cheaper to build in comparison to any regular new home, excluding land costs. Prices are reportedly between £150,000 and £340,000, and anyone who earns under £90,000, can sign up for one of the properties. The idea being that no-one who buys one of these properties will end up spending more than a third of their gross income on their mortgage.
Naked houses could be ready to be occupied by 2020, but first, the initiative will be subjected to testing. Neglected car parks and council states garages in Enfield will be turned into 22 brand new apartments, if successful, another seven sites will be built. Khan has already signed off a grant of £500,000 for the growing project.
However, in spite of the positive responses, the innovative project has also drawn criticism from Conservatives in the London Assembly. Andrew Boff, who chairs the housing committee, said: 'This is not the right trajectory for how we develop housing.
'These don’t look to me to be designed for growing families. They are for singletons and couples. They need homes as well, but if we don’t build larger properties for families we are creating a time bomb in London. There are over 300,000 children growing up in overcrowded conditions and that number is rising.'
Whether Naked Houses will be the answer to the housing crisis we've been looking for remains to be seen, but we certainly want to see what happens to the project next.
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'The Goverment Finally Admits That We'll Probably Be Renting Forever'
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.