<b><b>John Stewart examines some of the myths diverting attention away from solving the country&amp;’s housing supply crisis.</b></b><br><b>If Britain is to address its looming housing crisis, a number of myths about housing supply will first have to be exploded. Some arise from genuine misunderstanding or ignorance. Others seem little more than deliberate delaying tactics to avoid facing up to difficult political decisions.</b><br><b>But first, let me re-visit 1924, a year much-quoted in the media in recent weeks. </b><br><b>As <i>Housebuilder</i> readers will be aware, housing completions in Great Britain fell last year to their lowest for 54 years. Excluding the war and its immediate aftermath (1940-47), 2001 saw the lowest peacetime completions since 1924.</b><br><b>This date has a special significance for new Labour&amp;’s political leaders because 1924 saw Britain&amp;’s first ever Labour government. New Labour meets old Labour.</b><br><b><b>myth 1: </b>supply doesn&amp;’t matter<b></b></b><br> The first myth takes several forms, but can be summarised as &amp;“supply doesn&amp;’t matter&amp;”. One version says supply merely creates its own demand, so housing shortages cannot be resolved by increasing supply. Another claims house prices are set by incomes, not the interaction of supply and demand, so that increasing supply would have no significant impact on house prices.<p></p><p>The suggestion that supply …