Letter: The Shortage of Council Housing Could Be Solved Overnight

Published on: 14 Aug, 2022
Updated on: 14 Aug, 2022

From: Ben Paton

In response to: GBC’s Poor Performance on Social Housing Is An Abject Betrayal

The Conservative Party has said nothing competent, useful or true about social housing for a very long time.

1. It deliberately obfuscates over “affordable” housing and “social” housing. The two things are quite different.
2. The shortage is in social housing. It has been created by Conservative policy (also adopted by the Blair administrations) over many decades. If you sell off social housing every year and you fail to build any more for decades the result is predictable.
3. The four or five largest house builders have consolidated the building industry into their hands.
4. Conservative party policy has tamely (or corruptly) adopted the propaganda promoted by the largest housebuilders.
5. Government has obfuscated for years about the population statistics – after failing completely to control illegal immigration.
6. Government housing policy is as dishonest as claiming that no parties took place at No 10 during the Covid pandemic.
7. The housing policy results from the failure of government policy – Labour and Tory – for decades.

It could be solved overnight.

1. Create a national strategy for council houses.
2. Create national standards for council house building.
3. Create national standards for a second-hand market in minority interests in council houses, ie allow renter occupiers to buy up to say 40 per cent of their council house and to trade it when they want to move.
4. Create national standards for the maintenance, repair and overhaul of council houses.
5. Forbid the outright sale of any council houses to tenants.

Conservative “free market” dogma that imagines that the shortage of social housing will ever be solved by the big house builders is delusional.

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