Photo James Ivens (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)
Kieran Barlow, young worker
Nearly two fifths of renters think they will never escape the rent trap. A poll for the Observer found 37% of renters believe they will never own their own home.
Just over half of those polled declared they wanted more, not less, social housing as a way to ease the ongoing crisis. And 69% agree the country is “in the throes of a housing crisis”.
In 2015, the Conservatives announced their Housing and Planning Bill. It will not only redefine ‘affordable housing’ to try to cover up the housing crisis, but will also hand local planning to private companies.
This isn’t fixing our housing crisis, it’s worsening it.
The number of under-35s who own their own homes has fallen by 280,000 since the Tories came to power in 2010, according to Labour. Young working-class home ownership has dropped by a fifth.
Compared with a third of 16 to 24-year-olds owning their own home in 1991, only 10% do now. More and more end up stuck with their parents.
Personally, I was forced out of my home by welfare cuts. Thankfully I was taken in by family members.
However, for many it’s a different story. Placed in squalid council properties sold off to private ‘social’ housing companies, or forced into private rental due to council shortages. Landlords continually raising rents without properly maintaining properties.
The Socialist Party calls for trade unions to take the lead and establish a mass campaign to beat the housing bill and end the housing crisis. We demand a mass programme of building decent council homes, and democratic control of private rents to stop the exploitation.
