Model resolution for Labour conference

If you are a Labour member we would ask you to consider moving this resolution at your CLP and sending it to the Labour conference this year as your CLP’s resolution. It calls on Labour to demand of the government that it funds the building of 100,000 social rent council homes a year and ending Right to Buy. Labour needs to campaign on these demands and put the government under pressure. The pandemic has deepened the housing crisis and there is an urgent need for a council house building programme. This should be a key campaigning issue for Labour now. We want the conference to commit Labour to this as a priority. This is a government of U-turns. It can be forced to make another U-turn on council housing if Labour mobilises a national campaign which works with the new tenants unions, the trades unions and councils that would build more council housing if only they had the grant needed to fund it.

Model resolution

Council Housing

The Covid pandemic has aggravated the severe economic and health impacts of the housing crisis. In December 2020 the Health Foundation identified that prior to the pandemic a third of households in England had housing problems relating to overcrowding, affordability and poor quality housing. Overcrowding has been a key factor in the spread of Covid.

Prior to the pandemic, thousands of households were struggling with their housing costs in the unaffordable and insecure private rented sector. As a result of Covid many more households have suffered reduced income, with 450,000 additional households falling behind on their housing payments.

When the temporary ban on evictions was lifted the Resolution Foundation revealed that 400,000 renting households had been served with eviction notices and millions more were worried about their housing costs. The ending of the Furlough scheme will make matters worse, with predictions of a wave of evictions and a huge increase in homelessness.

The Conservative government has done little to support those struggling to access decent, affordable and secure housing to rent.

Conference, therefore, calls upon the Labour Party to demand that the government takes action now to end the housing crisis by:

• Delivering the building of 150,000 social rent homes each year, including 100,000 council homes funded by £10 billion grant a year.
• Ending ‘right to buy’.
• Reviewing council housing debt to address underfunding of housing revenue accounts.

Conference also calls upon Labour to place these actions at the centre of its housing policies.

If you manage to get your CLP to pass the resolution please let us know at labourcouncilhousingcampaign@gmail.com