Leeds West and Pudsey Constituency Labour Party, for which Rachel Reeves is the MP, has passed a motion calling for, amongst other things, 100,000 council homes a year and ending Right to Buy. It agreed to affiliate to our campaign; the second Leeds CLP to do so. The passing of the resolution reflects the widespread support amongst Labour Party members for increased funding for improving existing council housing, and for a large scale council house building programme, without which the housing crisis will not be resolved.
Housing motion
This Constituency Labour Party welcomes the recognition by Angela Rayner MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, that Council Housing is a vital element of any credible plan to tackle the UK’s housing crisis.
We also welcome the Renters’ Rights Bill to ban ‘No Fault Evictions’, aiming to provide greater security for renters and a “level playing field” between landlords and tenants.
To improve the quality of existing Council Homes and ensure delivery of new Social Homes at the scale needed, we call upon the Government to:
- fund the building or acquisition of 150,000 Social Rent Homes a year, including 100,000 Council Homes;
- end the Right to Buy (as in Scotland and Wales) to stop the further damaging loss of Council Houses;
- direct all ‘Affordable Homes Grant’ to providing “social rent” properties;
- promote Direct Labour Organisations thereby in-sourcing a crucial service and providing well paid, unionised jobs and apprenticeships;
- end the freezing of the ‘Local Housing Allowance’ and fully fund councils for the cost of Temporary Accommodation;
- ensure rent increases are no higher than inflation to protect low income tenants;
- review Council Housing ‘debt’ to enable councils to invest more of their Housing Revenue Account in improving their housing stock;
- provide the emergency funding requested by councils in their “Securing the Future of Council Housing” submission.
- Fund the decarbonisation of existing Council Housing, minimise the carbon footprint and make non-carbon heating compulsory for new homes.
- Take steps to re-enforce the social, health and economic benefits of living in Council Housing and challenge negative stereotypes.
In furtherance of the above we resolve to:
1) Write to Angela Rayner MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Matthew Pennycook, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to express these views.
2) Request our Labour MP Rachel Reeves to raise these matters with Angela Rayner MP and report back to this CLP.
3) Affiliate to the Labour Campaign for Council Housing (£30);
4) Refer this motion to our Local Government Committee seeking its approval and requesting that it be circulated to delegating organisations for their support
Labour Campaign for Council Housing 