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Coral Jones (Chair of the LSHA) reports that the London branch of the Socialist Health Association has voted to affiliate to the Labour Campaign for Council Housing. Members voted to affiliate to LCCH after hearing a presentation by Martin Wicks of LCCH and other housing campaigners at our general meeting on 14th December 2022 . … Continue reading London Socialist Health Association affiliates to the Labour Campaign for Council Housing

This is taken from a Leicester council newsletter. Radical steps to address the housing crisis in Leicester are being set out in a new action plan by Leicester City Council. The authority is declaring a housing crisis and is calling for urgent action from central Government to ease pressure caused by the growing demand for … Continue reading Leicester Council declares a housing crisis and calls for an end to Right to Buy

Decades of zero investment in council housing, combined with the wealthy buying up second homes and holiday lets, has driven property prices so high that currently, to suggest people on our waiting list look for properties in the private sector is disingenuous Our campaign member Emma Taylor (pictured), Cabinet Member for Citizens Services (which includes … Continue reading Worthing council declares a cost of living emergency

Labour Party member and tenant activist Georgina Schueller, says Homes for Lambeth, the council owned private company, is part of the problem, not the solution of the housing crisis.This was her short speech to a council Cabinet meeting recently. I haven’t had time to scrutinize your figures across all small sites which are quite opaque … Continue reading Homes for Lambeth is “part of the problem”

Penhill Estate in Swindon The government’s affordable rent product, introduced a decade ago, means some tenants are being fleeced for no good reason other than they can be and it has to stop, argues Martin Wicks From Inside Housing Recently, I discovered that a tenant living in a three-bedroom house on Penhill, a 1950s council estate … Continue reading Time to end the use of (un)affordable rent

This is a discussion article by Martin Wicks. Faced with the possibility of an 8% rent increase next year for 'social housing' tenants, how can we campaign against it, and what should we demand? What do you think? Council and housing association tenants can expect a 4.1% rent increase in April this year. After 4 … Continue reading Rent freeze for tenants?

Dermot McKibbin reports on social cleansing in Bromley and the decision of a Tory council to reopen a housing revenue account. The Conservative Party in Bromley owes an apology to local taxpayers, homeless families rehoused into Kent, applicants on its rehousing list and the Conservative MP for Medway. The political decision to sell off the … Continue reading Social cleansing of homeless families and Bromley Council

https://www.worthingwestlabour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/178/2021/07/49637413_1121926094655990_3790063039605112832_n-600x600-c-default.jpg Emma Taylor (pictured), Labour spokesperson for housing on Worthing Council moved a resolution on the threat of mass homelessness at the Joint Strategic Committee of the council. Here is the text of her speech. The resolution was rejected by the Conservative ruling group. Good evening all and thank you for the opportunity to attend … Continue reading The threat of mass homelessness

Rochdale Council's housing stock was transferred to Rochdale Borough-wide Housing, set up as a mutual, in 2012. Tenants voted by 3 to 1 in favour though the turnout was only 56%. RBH has proposed a 'regeneration' for the College Bank site which involves the demolition of four of the seven tower blocks, known as the … Continue reading Save the Seven Sisters

The increase in social rent homes is insufficient to compensate for losses from RTB and demolitions The London component of the funding from the government's Affordable Homes Programme for five years, beginning in 2021, has just been announced. It's an improvement insofar as there is more funding for social rent council homes than previously. Thankfully … Continue reading London’s affordable homes programme 2021