We have had the relaunch, but where is Angela Rayner’s Council Housing revolution?
On more than one occasion since being appointed Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government, Angela Rayner has said that the government overhaul of the planning system will result in a council house revolution, delivering “the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation”. But in Keir Starmer’s speech on Wednesday, there was no sign at all of this revolution.
The house building milestone and confirmation of the government’s target for 1.5 million new homes was restated in the context of ensuring that the security that Keir Starmer enjoyed when he was growing up, and “the base camp aspiration of home ownership” doesn’t move further away from working class families like his. No mention of the council house revolution here. No mention of a mandatory target for social rent homes that so many have been pushing for. No assurance that the 1.5 million homes will end the housing crisis by delivering for those experiencing the worst impact of that crisis, the growing number of people who are in poor quality, overcrowded and insecure housing or the record number of homeless people whose base camp aspiration is to access a decent, affordable, secure home to rent.
We, of course, agree that we need to build more homes and the government Is right to set an ambitious building target. Despite claims by some that this is too ambitious, there is no reason to see this figure as unachievable, particularly as it has been achieved in the past. But in the early 70’s, when over 300,000 homes were built each year, over half were built by local authorities and housing associations. With the country in the grip of a chronic crisis of affordability, where house prices continue to increase relentlessly, we need that to happen again, with priority being given to the tenure that has been neglected for far too long. To achieve this the government must invest, as it did in the past, to ensure these homes are delivered.
Social housing providers and campaigners have been calling for a long term strategy for housing, with appropriate levels of investment to ensure this plan succeeds for some time, and will continue to do so until that call has been heard.
One of those who has commented most recently is Andy Hulme, the chief executive of Hyde housing. In an article in Inside Housing he says.
‘Given the challenge with the affordability and availability of housing the most welcome part of the new government’s approach is the focus on increasing the delivery of affordable housing. It is essential the government prioritises building social rent homes and works with the sector to deliver these. However, delivering more social housing requires more grant subsidy…We welcome the additional £500m investment announced in the Budget, but this must be a down-payment on far bigger amounts to come in next year’s Spending Review.’
To turbo charge the council house revolution, a commitment to the investment must be the next and immediate milestone in Labour’s plans.
Carol Hayton
Labour Campaign for Council Housing 