Campaigner's bold new idea to solve housing crisis

Quantity surveyor plans for permenantly affordable houses

A housing campaigner has urged the next administration to rethink how it delivers affordable homes, warning current policies are ‘not working’ for young people or key workers.

Quantity surveyor Malcolm Blackburn has produced a 270-page ‘Blackburn Plan’, which he describes as an integrated framework covering housing, planning, infrastructure, agriculture and the wider economy.

He told Manx Radio his core principle is that ‘we’re temporary stewards of the Isle of Man, and what we should be looking at is what we leave behind us is better for the next generation’.

Mr Blackburn argues there is not enough brownfield land to meet demand and says some lower-grade agricultural fields should be released for housing, while still protecting prime land and food security. 

Under his plan, farmers would be invited to offer up small parcels, around four acres for 20 homes, with part of the uplift in land value recycled back into agriculture to support investment and bring younger people into the industry.

His plan proposes permanently affordable homes, with target prices of around £200,000 for a one-bed, £250,000 for a two-bed and £300,000 for a three-bed. 

A five percent levy on new market homes would help make schemes viable for developers, alongside a government-backed mortgage partnership. 

Buyers could sell on, recover inflation and the value of improvements, but ‘them affordable houses remain affordable forevermore within the scheme’.

Mr Blackburn also calls for a scoring matrix for planning decisions, giving sites a numerical rating based on environmental, community, health and other impacts, which he says would make the system more transparent and harder to manipulate.

Although he is not standing for election, he has circulated the plan to all candidates and says he hopes the new House of Keys will ‘consider alternatives’ to tackling the housing crisis.

Listen to Mr Blackburn's interview below: