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New homes
新家
Building blocks
添砖加瓦
The government makes a lame attempt to boosthouse-building
政府促进房地产建设的步伐跌跌撞撞
AS GEORGE OSBORNE prepared to deliver hisautumn statement, on December 2nd,
Danny Alexander, his Liberal Democrat deputy at theTreasury, announced a slew of
investments in infrastructure. These included a much-needed15 billion (24
billion) for roads, as well as 2.3 billion for flood defences. Mr Alexander
tried tomake much of the coalition's plans on housing, too, trumpeting 13,000
new homes to be builtat Bicester, a town in Oxfordshire, which would then be
designated as a garden city. Thegovernment will need to do much more, however,
to solve Britain's housing problem.
随着乔治·奥斯本准备发表其秋日宣言，12月2日，来自自由民主党的英国财政部第一副大臣丹尼·亚历山大宣布了拉动基础建设的投资计划。其中包括道路急需的150亿英镑(折合240亿美元)以及防洪的23亿英镑。亚历山大试图推动更多联邦计划在房屋上，吹嘘将在牛津郡的比斯特镇修建13000栋新房并将其建成花园城市。然而，要解决英国的房屋问题，政府仍需要做出更多努力。
On average, 140,000 homes have been built in each of the past four years,
far fewer than the240,000 new houses needed annually. With supply constrained,
house prices continue to rise,by 19% in London over the past year. There is an
estimated deficit of as many as 1m houses.
过去四年中，平均每年新建140,000座房屋，远远少于每年240，000座房屋生物的需求。由于供应有限，今年房屋价格仍然持续上涨了19%。据估计，英国房屋缺口高达100万。
Bicester is in the arc north and west of London's green belt that is ideal
territory for morehouse-building: it is good for commuters to the capital and
other hubs of employment such asOxford and Cambridge. It is the arc where, after
the second world war, the government builtseveral garden cities—new towns that
combined employment with a pleasant place to live.Bicester has good transport
links and plenty of brownfield land (most of the new homes will beon land now
owned by the defence ministry). It also has an MP who supports
moreconstruction.
比斯特位于伦敦绿化地带的北部和西部的弧形地区，是修建更多住宅区的理想地点：有利于上班族前往首都以及其他诸如牛津和剑桥之类的工作中心。自二战之后，政府在这片弧形区域修建了一些花园城市——适合工作和居住的新型城镇。比斯特拥有良好的交通网和大量肥沃的土地(这块领域中大多数新住宅区现在属于国防部)。还有一位国会议员支持更多的建筑项目。
Yet the Bicester houses are “not even a drop in the ocean,” says Paul
Cheshire of the LondonSchool of Economics. The politicians are just going
through the motions, he says. “This ispolitical window dressing.” And that is
assuming the homes even get built. Construction at theother recent attempt to
fashion a new garden city—in Ebbsfleet, south-east of London—hasbarely
begun.
然而，伦敦经济学院的保罗·切希尔表示，比斯特镇的房屋量过少，甚至都算不上是“沧海一粟”。政治家们不过是做做样子而已，“这是政治粉饰太平的一种方式”。即使建造了房屋也不过如此。而在伦敦东南的艾贝斯费特镇建立新式花园城市的计划甚至还未起步。
Locals in Bicester are not pleased, either, raising familiar concerns about
crowded schools, badtraffic and stretched health care. “We don't even have a
proper hospital,” says Claire, ahairdresser. “How are we going to support 13,000
more homes?”
比斯特的当地人对此并不高兴，大多越来越担忧学校拥挤、交通堵塞和看病时间会延长。发型师克莱尔说，“我们甚至都没有足够大的医院，怎么支撑13000多户人家的正常运转呢?”
Meanwhile, Mr Alexander suggested another solution to the lack of housing:
the firstgovernment involvement in house-building in a generation. He announced
a pilot schemenear Cambridge to build 10,000 new homes, warning developers, “If
you don't build, we will.”
与此同时，亚历山大针对房屋匮乏提出了另一个解决方案：第一代政府只干涉一代人的房屋建设。他宣布了在剑桥郡附近修建10,000套新房屋的试行计划，并警告开发商们，“如果你们不修，那就让我们来。”
The answer is simpler, says Mr Cheshire: the government should amend
planning regulationsto allow construction on the green belt. “Nothing short of
radical” solutions will solve theproblem, he says. But the benefits of such
changes take a long time to filter through. Thedrawbacks for NIMBYs are apparent
immediately, especially just ahead of an election.
切希尔表示，答案可以更简单些：政府应修订计划规定，允许在绿化地带修建房屋，“强制”执行即可解决这个问题。但是这类变革的益处要过很久才能显示出来。
邻避症候群((NIMBY=not in my back yard，指反对建筑有害设施的运动或人)的阻挠显而易见，尤其是大选迫在眉睫的情况下。
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发表于 2017-8-6 16:08:35