Labour propose one million genuinely affordable homes with new definition of affordable housing linked to incomes

Wednesday, 18 April 2018 22:30

Tomorrow (Thursday 19 April) Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey will launch Labour’s affordable housing review and Green Paper consultation which proposes to build a million new genuinely affordable homes over 10 years, the majority for social rent, and a new definition of affordable housing linked to incomes. The review, ‘Housing for the Many’, was initiated by Jeremy Corbyn during his speech to Labour Conference last year...Request free trial

The review, ‘Housing for the Many’, was initiated by Jeremy Corbyn during his speech to Labour Conference last year in Brighton and the work has been led by Shadow Housing Secretary, John Healey MP. The 50 point review will be launched by both politicians on Thursday in London.

The review sets out the Party’s aim to make affordable housing available to a broad range of people on ordinary incomes, including the ‘real middle’ of households that are currently too well-off for existing social housing, but struggle to afford to buy a home. It will also outline Labour's plans to build housing at a scale not seen since the 1970s.

Amongst the proposals set out for consultation today are:

redefining ‘affordable housing’ by scrapping the Conservatives’ so-called ‘Affordable Rent’ at up to 80% of market rents, and introducing a new definition linked to incomes including: social rent, living rent and low-cost ownership
a new ‘duty to deliver’ affordable housing for councils, with a new needs assessment and enhanced ‘new homes bonus’ for affordable housing
a new English Sovereign Land Trust to make more land available, more cheaply
new borrowing freedoms and central funding to get councils and housing associations building at scale
a fully-fledged new Department for Housing, which will drive through our New Deal on housing.

Specifically to deal with the problems raised by the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower, the Green Paper will propose:

a new ‘Decent Homes 2’ target for social landlords, to include fire safety for the first time
a new independent national organisation and a Commissioner to represent the views of tenants
new reforms to increase transparency in the social housing sector by extending the Freedom of Information Act to housing associations and ensuring the routine public release of fire safety reports
fast-track reforms to allow tenants to take council and housing association landlords to court if their homes aren’t safe

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“When housing has become a site of speculation for a wealthy few, leaving the many unable to access a decent, secure home, something has gone seriously wrong.

“Luxury flats proliferate across our big cities, while social housing is starved of investment and too many people are living in dangerous accommodation at the mercy of rogue landlords.

“We need to restore the principle that a decent home is a right owed to all, not a privilege for the few. And the only way to deliver on that right for everyone, regardless of income, is through social housing.

“When the post-war Labour government built hundreds of thousands of council houses in a single term in office, they transformed millions of people’s lives.

“This Green Paper will look at how to fix our broken housing system, so that it works for the many, not the few.”

John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary, said:

“The housing market is broken and current Conservative housing policy is failing to fix it. We have to build more affordable homes to make homes more affordable.

“The Conservatives won’t do this, so the next Labour government must, by hardwiring Labour’s new affordable housing throughout the system, from housebuilding targets to investment priorities to planning rules.

“This Green Paper sets out our plan to change the country’s approach to affordable housing as part of a new national mission to solve the country’s housing crisis.”

Ends

Notes to editors

To request a copy of the report please email press@labour.org.uk

Labour’s commitment to one million homes would aim to clear the current social housing waiting list which stands at 1,155,285 households in England. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/674350/LT_600.xlsx
Last year only 5,380 homes for social rent were built, the lowest number since records began. At this rate of building it would take 215 years to build enough new social rented homes to house every household currently on the waiting list. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/657915/Live_Table_1000.xlsx

Labour’s Green Paper has been widely welcomed by the housing sector.

David Orr, Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation, said:

“This is a positive statement of ambition from the Labour Party. It sets out an important package of measures which recognise the vital role that housing associations play in building the genuinely affordable and quality homes the country needs. It includes many policies to welcome, especially the £4bn in grants for affordable homes and cheaper access to land.

“This paper should be the catalyst for further important conversations between the sector and the Labour Party and we look forward to working with them on this.”

Nick Forbes, Labour Group Leader and LGA Senior Vice-Chair, Local Government Association, said:

“This is a bold, ambitious and radical set of proposals to build the affordable homes our country desperately needs. Local authorities are keen to be part of the solution, but current Government policies hold us back from doing more. These plans would set us free to deliver for our communities, creating thousands of new jobs and give everyone who needs a home hope for the future.”

Terrie Alafat CBE, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said:

“Our national housing crisis is causing real hardship for millions of people all over the country – as we have been saying for a long time, it is absolutely crucial that we focus on affordability. It’s not just a numbers game – yes we need to increase the number of homes we are building but we need to make sure we are building the right homes, in the right places, at the right prices.

“We know that for many people on lower incomes, the only truly affordable option is social rent – and yet not only are we failing to build enough of these homes, we are actually losing them at an alarming rate. Our research predicts we will lose 230,000 homes for social rent between 2012 and 2020, which is simply unacceptable. In recent years the definition of affordable housing has been stretched to breaking point for many people – the time is right for a national debate on what genuinely affordable housing should look like in all parts of the country.”

Jenny Osbourne, Chief Executive of leading tenant engagement organisation Tpas, said:

"Tpas welcomes the Labour Housing Review and it’s ambition to invest in much needed social housing and ensure more homes are available to people at realistic affordable rents. We welcome the focus on a return to sustaining mixed communities and to ensuring that tenants have a genuine and respected role of involvement with their landlords."