Labour pledges a "housing revolution" with biggest council house building programme for decades
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Labour’s manifesto launching tomorrow (Thursday) will
include new plans for the biggest council and social
housing programme in decades to transform the lives of millions of
people struggling to afford a decent home because of the
housing crisis. The new plans will be paid for with
funding from Labour’s Social Transformation Fund. Half of Labour’s
Social Transformation Fund - around £75bn over five years
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Labour’s manifesto launching tomorrow (Thursday) will include new plans for the biggest council and social housing programme in decades to transform the lives of millions of people struggling to afford a decent home because of the housing crisis.
The new plans will be paid for with funding from Labour’s Social Transformation Fund. Half of Labour’s Social Transformation Fund - around £75bn over five years - will be allocated to housing.
The homes will be built to cutting edge design and green standards, with Labour citing the new, award winning Goldsmith Street council development in Labour-led Norwich as an example of what Labour’s modern council housing could look like.
Labour’s plans will mean:
Despite more than a million households being stuck on council waiting lists, affordable housing was one of the first and deepest cuts the Conservatives made after 2010, and Government figures show that last year the number of Government-funded affordable homes for social rent built fell by 90%, to fewer than 1,000, while Government figures suggest fewer than 3,000 council homes were built.
Last week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that over the last two decades, there has been a 46% increase in the number of young people aged 20-34 living with their parents.
The scale of Labour’s building programme will mean that homes will be available in every area for families, trapped younger renters, and older people in sub-standard homes.
As part of the new programme, Labour will scrap the Conservatives’ bogus definition of ‘affordable’ housing replacing it with a new Labour definition linked to local incomes, including social rent - which works out at around half the level of market rents - alongside new living rent and homes for low-cost ownership.
Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:
"Housing should be for the many, not a speculation opportunity for dodgy landlords and the wealthy few.
"I am determined to create a society where working class communities and young people have access to affordable, good quality council and social homes.
"Everyone knows someone affected by the housing crisis. Labour is offering real change to fix it."
John Healey, Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary, said:
“The next Labour Government will kick-start a housing revolution, with the biggest investment in new council and social homes this country has seen for decades.
“Labour’s transformational housing plans will mean thousands more genuinely affordable homes for people on ordinary incomes in every area of the country.
“Our modern council and social housing will be built to cutting-edge design and green standards providing a long-term investment in our country’s future.”
Ends
Notes to editors
Labour would scrap the Government’s definition of ‘affordable’ which can be set at up to 80% of market rents, and pledge a new definition, which all homes would have to meet to qualify for funding:
Labour’s bold plan for housing is what exactly what experts say is needed to fix the country’s housing crisis:
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