Making the case for housing

Within weeks of taking office, the Tory-led government looks set to take a massive backwards step in housing policy. They have decided that their approach to housing will be to leave it up to the market to decide, leaving families alone to sink or swim. They are already cutting investment in affordable housing, tearing up the planning rules to create a nimbyist charter and hitting those on housing benefit.

I think the direction that they are taking is wrong. Housing cannot just be left to the market to decide. Government needs to play a part in making sure that everyone has a decent home. Therefore our responsibility in the Labour Party is to have a clear and robust approach to ensuring that everyone in Britain has a secure, decent affordable home in a community where they want to live.

We did achieve a lot in government that we should be proud off. We tackled the appalling state of social housing left to us by the Tories. Over a million more homeowners than there were in 1997 and through shared ownership and other schemes we helped 130,000 people own their home who wouldn’t have been able to do so otherwise. We changed the planning system to increase the number of homes being built, reaching a 30 year peak of 207,000 new homes in 2007. We championed mixed-tenure developments to stop social segregation, and we set world-leading targets for delivering zero-carbon homes.

We should champion these achievements, but we should be more humble about where more ought to have been done. On reflection, we should have made a stronger argument for the role of housing as a public good, focusing less on targets and numbers than the human and community issues at stake. Despite our gains, big housing injustices remain – like families unable to get on to the housing ladder, too few decent homes for social rent and poor quality housing in the private rented sector.

That is why if I was elected leader I would argue for the following steps on housing:

• Instead of putting 750,000 people at risk of homelessness by cutting £1.7 billion from housing benefit – including a cut of 10 per cent just for being out of work for a year – we should introduce a mansion tax of 1 per cent on properties worth over £2 million.
• Second we must build more social housing by giving councils the freedom to use their rental income and land to build more social homes to rent. Labour’s plan to reform council house funding would have seen thousands of new homes built each year.
• Third, we should root out the remaining slum landlords who prey on vulnerable people for their own financial gain. We should establish a register of landlords and regulation of letting agents to protect tenants and promote their rights. Local authorities should also be given stronger powers to inspect and take action against the worst landlords.
• Fourth, we should help low and middle income families get their foot on the housing ladder through greater access to shared ownership options, like ‘rent to buy’ as part of our commitment to affordable housing. The government have already cut money for affordable housing and industry experts predict further cuts in the spending review could mean 230,000 fewer affordable homes being built by 2020.
• Finally government has an important role in ensuring enough new houses are built to meet rising demand and keep the cost of homes within reach of ordinary families. Eric Pickles decision to scrap regional housing targets will mean around 85,000 planned new homes in the England now not being built.

Labour also needs to make the economic case for housing. House building directly supports hundreds of thousands of skilled jobs and construction contributed over a third of the 1.1 per cent growth in the UK economy in the second quarter of 2010. More broadly, without a sufficient supply of homes that people can afford, we risk holding back economic growth, making it harder for people to move for jobs and increasing firms’ costs. Maintaining support for the housing sector is crucial to tackling the jobs deficit – which is vital to reducing the budget deficit.

Resolving each of these problems requires government action – something the Tory-Lib Dem government have already set themselves against. Housing is rarely front page news. But there is little more important than having a decent, secure place to live. Meeting that demand is a fundamental economic and social good, which neither the ‘Big Society’ alone nor regressive austerity will meet. The Tory approach is the definition of irresponsible short-termism, which we must oppose and expose. In its place, Labour needs to make the public case for public housing and demonstrate the vital role for government in shaping a housing market that serves the public interest.

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