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A huge shift in attitude towards social housing has taken place
A decade ago housing was a political niche. We have travelled a long way since, but not always in the right direction, writes Isabel Hardman
Just over a decade ago, this magazine approached all the major political parties and asked them to make at least one housing pledge in their manifesto for the 2010 election. At the time, it was enough of an ask that we needed to chase the parties for an answer. Housing, at the time, was a political niche.
That’s clearly not the case any more. In the 10 years since, housebuilding generally and social housing specifically have become serious political battlegrounds with real salience. And nowhere has the change in attitude towards social housing been more striking than in the Conservative Party.
Back in 2010, the Conservatives in the newly formed coalition government arrived determined to shake up what they saw as a small ‘c’ conservative and largely left-wing housing sector. They were happy to deal with the fall-out from such a shake-up, too: tenancy reforms would only provoke protests from a sector that didn’t know what was good for it.
This view was, unfortunately, borne out in the sector’s reaction, which was to argue vigorously against reforms to security of tenure, before swiftly adopting shorter-term tenancies anyway.
The clearest shift through the 19 different men and women responsible for social housing since is that they no longer want to have this kind of confrontation with the sector. When I spoke to housing minister Chris Pincher about this, he was very clear not just that he doesn’t “want to go to war with the sector”, but also that he enjoys good relations with those running the key housing organisations.
Another minister who understands the Tory party very well explains: “I think we are in a much healthier place which is not about ‘social housing: good or bad?’ But it’s about good or bad social housing.”
For the Conservatives now, the focus is on the quality of new build housing, and how to improve the existing stock. Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has given presentations to cabinet on this, while Boris Johnson is increasingly interested in developing sustainable housing. One cabinet minister who has sat in on these presentations reports a recognition – finally – that the knock-on effects of bad quality social housing on health, education and other portfolios are very expensive.
But there’s another reason for this more consensual approach. The Conservative Party itself has changed. The seats it has won over the past few elections aren’t shires. They’re towns and ‘red wall’ working-class areas. The MPs representing these constituencies aren’t traditional Tories, either: many of them grew up in or around social housing and see it as more of a natural part of the housing ecosystem than an optional extra.
There’s still one big thing missing. The constant turnover of ministers has become a running joke in Westminster. It’s not funny: not only does it leave landlords and tenants on shifting sands, it also means ministers can avoid accountability for any dud policies they introduce. Perhaps the next round of manifestos should simply pledge not to mess around quite as much.
Isabel Hardman, columnist and assistant editor, Spectator
