General Election: Council Housing Pledge

The Labour Campaign for Council Housing has produced a Council Housing Pledge which we are asking Labour Parliamentary Candidates to support. With no more money for council housing in Labour’s Manifesto, Right to Buy set to continue and investment in insulation/retrofitting/decarbonisation of existing homes scaled back to only £1.1 billion a year, it’s important to have the dialogue with candidates.

We will need to pressure a Labour government to fund a renaissance of council housing, without which there will be no resolution of the housing crisis. That will include improving existing housing, which requires more funding than is currently available, and decarbonising existing council housing.

Shelter and other organisations are demanding that the next government funds 90,000 social rent homes a year, whilst the Local Government Association (which includes Labour’s own councillors) is calling for 100,000 a year.

The Pledge reads:

Council Housing pledge
“To resolve the housing crisis a Labour government should focus on a renaissance of council housing. It should commit to

• Funding the building/acquisition of 100,000 social rent council homes a year
• Ending the disastrous Right to Buy policy
• Ending “flexible tenancies” and giving all council tenants secure tenancies
• Funding the retrofitting and decarbonisation of existing council housing
• Ending above inflation rent increases
• Funding housing revenue accounts sufficiently to maintain and improve the standard of housing and the living conditions of tenants

Will you commit to campaigning for these policies to be implemented by the next government?”

We are asking you to contact your Labour Parliamentary candidate to speak to them about the pledge and call on them to support it.

Please let us know what their response is.