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More and better council homes must be at the heart of a new approach to housing

Housing is the front line of a major political battle — it’s time to step up the fight, argues GLYN ROBBINS

HOUSING has become the new front line of class conflict. Around the world, working-class communities battle for survival against the private property machine.  

When someone who was a slumlord becomes US president, it’s clear how far the dial has turned away from housing as a universal human right.  

Eulogising his phoney peace deal with North Korea, Donald Trump talked about how many luxury apartments he’d like to build there.
Another housing world is possible, but we stand at a critical moment, illustrated by the situation in Britain.  

The Tory government has no solution to the housing crisis, exemplified by the fact that we’ve now had four failed housing ministers in three years.  

Its latest policy green paper is a rehash of tired rhetoric, but containing a latent threat. On page 38 it refers to a “new programme of stock transfer.”  

Cynically using Grenfell as justification, the Tories want to resume a disastrous New Labour policy to give even more council homes to private housing associations (HAs).

Perhaps the Tories won’t be in government long enough to carry out this threat, but for Labour to take their place, it must sharpen up its position on housing.  

The party produced its own green paper in April. There are many things to welcome, but a lot missing.  

Above all, there’s no firm, unambiguous commitment to restore council housing as part of a compelling vision for how a Labour government will end the tyranny of the failed housing market.  

Instead, there’s a continued attempt to obscure the issues and pander to vested interests.

While quite rightly ditching the government’s ridiculous definition of “affordable housing,” the paper presents another one that could become equally discredited.  

Instead of a clear statement in favour of council housing as the only genuinely affordable rented homes, it presents five different varieties of “affordable” housing.  

This is overcomplicated, prone to manipulation by politicians and developers and potentially divisive.  

This approach is heavily influenced by Sadiq Khan’s emerging policies and the US model. It runs the real danger that investment doesn’t go where it’s needed most.

The paper continues the practice of suggesting that homes provided by councils and HAs are basically the same, wrapped under the deliberately misleading label “social” housing.  

It’s clearly been influenced by the HA lobbying machine. There’s only muted criticism of the sector and nothing tangible about how it can be reformed.  

It’s repeatedly suggested that HAs have been “forced” to become more commercial, when in fact they’ve lobbied for it.

Where there is mention of the importance of councils building again, it’s qualified with use of local housing companies and commissioning, neither of which can produce genuine council housing that’s public in perpetuity.  

While lifting the cap on council’s borrowing is welcome, there’s nothing about writing off historic debt.

These issues collide with estate demolitions. The BBC Inside Out programme (September 3) reported that 80 London council estates are currently threatened with full or partial demolition.  

The same is going on around the country — private developers destroying genuinely affordable homes and working-class communities, often with the collaboration of Labour councils.  

This will only make the housing crisis worse. As George the Poet said at the end of the BBC programme, “We must fight for council housing.”

A basic democratic principle is that all residents facing demolition should have a real say in the future of their homes in the form of a binding ballot. Khan has gone some way towards agreeing this in London, but with too many exceptions. 

Defend Council Housing (DCH) has launched a petition demanding “no demolition without permission.” It also calls on the government to urgently reform housing finance to enable councils to invest in existing and new council homes and fully fund urgent safety works.  

To win these demands, we need a broad-based, high-profile, national campaign. We can learn from Ireland. In the Republic, the housing issue has risen to the top of the political agenda and the government is feeling the heat.  

Regular protests, including occupations of empty buildings, are attracting serious media attention.  

This is being driven by the National Homeless and Housing Coalition, an alliance of more than 80 community and campaign groups, trade unions, women’s organisations, housing agencies and political parties in the biggest yet united campaign to fight for an end to the housing crisis.

More and better council homes must be at the heart of a new approach to housing and will have huge knock-on benefits.  

We’ll end the super-exploitation of private renting and restore stability to working-class communities, while creating thousands of jobs and apprenticeships.  

Collective ownership is the only way to promote energy efficiency. We’ll take our homes out of the market and the market out of our homes. It’s time to step up the fight.

DCH/Homes for All is holding a fringe meeting at Labour Party conference on Monday September 24 at 6pm at the Holiday Inn Express, Albert Dock, Liverpool. Speakers include Tony O’Brien (Construction Safety Campaign), Moyra Samuels (Justice for Grenfell) and Stewart Smythe (National Homeless and Housing Coalition, Ireland).

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