the article is premised on the false notion that people are arguing that taking control of vacant properties is by itself sufficient to solve the housing crisis. they are not, and of course it won't. but it is a necessary part of a much wider solution
The article was in response to Zoë Garbett’s tweet, where reoccupying empty homes was the only supply measure (as opposed to tenure-regulation measure) she expressed support for and in which she explicitly opposed proposals to actually build more homes.
I appreciate that you personally might (rightly) think that reoccupying empty homes is only a small part of a much wider necessary solution (which involves quite a lot of building), but that’s not what the politician quoted was saying.
the tweet, which sets out a range of solutions, is literally right there
And the key criticism of the tweet (which @jonnelledge.bsky.social makes more eloquently in his article than I could) is that the sole measure to increase overall housing supply she expresses support for only has a small role to play in solving the problem.
that's a bad faith misreading of her argument, which is simply that building only luxury housing is useless. no one is arguing against building in general
I’m not convinced that she isn’t being dishonest in saying that the “grey belt” proposals would only result in “luxury” (whatever we take that word to mean in this context — see also “executive homes”) housing being built.
Overall the tweet is an archetypal example of a politician diverting attention away from the need for building more homes by using the diversion of empty homes — which the numbers show can only have a small impact.
is it? looks to me like empty homes is the last in her list of poposed solutions. so important but far from sufficient
There is nuance missing in this debate. Some say reoccupying empty homes is the solution, some (e.g. Nick Bano) say tenure regulation, and some say building. In truth all three are desirable but the third is the one which is definitely needed at scale regardless of your wider left/right politics.