Tim Farron has put David Cameron’s new housing policy under the microscope and found it wanting. We should take notice of what he says because he knows a lot about housing, the issue that brought him into politics and has made his number one priority. Writing in the New Statesman, he says:
This is still an economically illiterate and socially divisive policy with devastating consequences, which was flung into the Conservative election campaign in a last minute attempt to grab some votes by invoking memories of Thatcher.
Firstly, selling off housing association homes does nothing to address the national emergency in housing. The huge shortage of affordable homes in the UK causes millions of people to suffer on a daily basis, with 1.6 million people on social housing waiting lists, unable to get on with their lives. The government’s plans still mean giving huge cash handouts to a tiny minority, while making things worse for many others.
Secondly, the policy will be funded by selling off what the government considers ‘high value’ council houses which will slash affordable homes in crucial areas. These are not huge mansions but very ordinary homes, which happen to be in areas where house prices are soaring. The government’s approach should be to build more houses in those areas, not to force those living there out.
Thirdly, there is no requirement for replacement homes to be built in the same area as those sold off. This means affordable homes will be depleted in certain areas, breaking down communities and resulting in social cleansing as people are forced elsewhere. For a party that supposedly upholds family values, they seem completely ignorant of the fact that their policies rip them apart.
You can read the whole article here.
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3 Comments
I don’t think the Tories in Westminster have any idea what the social housing is like around the country. They talk about Housing Associations being forced to sell their properties to tenants to be replaced by making local councils sell some of their better properties to finance more building. In Lincolnshire at least two District Councils have a number of years ago already transferred their housing stock to a Housing Associations. So what have they got to sell?
In the early 1990s developers began building ‘starter homes’ for sale, whose prices, once they joined the property merry go round, went through the roof. Won’t the same happen again? My present house cost me and my wife a tad over £10,000 when we bought it in 1977. That represented around half my annual teacher’s salary. It’s now worth in excess of £170,000 today, which is around four times the salary earned by a teacher in my position today. That says it all, in my opinion. Scrap the right to buy and bring back the council house. It gave my parents a roof over their heads after the war. Sadly, in the eyes of many people, it has become, in the words of a former housing officer, a “stigmatised last resort”.
Well done Tim. This is the policy area we need to be focussing on. Mrs Thatchers’ governments ran up such horrendous government spending deficits that she had to sell off treasured public assets to try and balance the books. Even Harold McMillan was appalled. Young people and vulnerable people should have safe and well maintained affordable local authority housing to rent and help establish their independence. Retired people should ne able to downsize to such housing and free up family housing for those requiring it.
We need some material and sharp slogans to put on our Focus and election publications .For example affordable is housing for those who cannot afford to buy. I HA home sold =2 houses no longer available to rent. Selling Council houses adds to the waiting list. I am sure there are others who can come up with snappier material.