What is the biggest issue facing us, I asked several people last weekend. Everyone over 50 made reference to Brexit and immigration. All those under 40 said the same thing: housing. The need to build more houses for our children and grandchildren.
I know that many constituents do not agree there is a need for much more housing.
The reality is that we now have an entire generation who have not been able to afford to buy and it is a crisis, especially in some parts of the country.
Baby boomers like me have enjoyed the best of times.
Peace in Europe, which is historically unusual. Lifetime employment for most, which is unlikely to be repeated. Pension provision accessed at a reasonably early age. This is under threat. Early property ownership and escalating capital growth on our homes. Average age of first-time buyer now 38! A welfare state that met our needs. This is now creaking at the seams.
Most of us have had it easier than the next generation are getting it, or the one after that. So it is incumbent on us to tackle the issue that they care about more than any other, namely accessing the security of home ownership.
We are not building enough houses. Measures set out by the government this week are designed to remedy that shortcoming. The impact of building more houses will be to make a small downwards impact on house prices, because of the law of supply and demand which most of us struggled to understand at school. In amongst the market-priced houses will be a large number of specifically affordable homes for local people.
This might be provided by housing associations or councils or the private sector. A company in Plymouth called Rentplus have come up with an ingenious new scheme which has attracted much private sector investment. His is a product called Rent to Buy. The tenants enter into a contract with Rentplus at the outset to buy after 5, 10, 15 or 20 years, get a gifted 10% deposit and when they buy, subject to a mortgage, the property is fully theirs. This has been in existence for a couple of years and more and more schemes like this are being delivered. I am trying to advance this in our area.
None of us like our views or dog walking areas to be built on, but the next generation need us to be more accommodating.