Isabelle France, Sheffield North West Socialist Party
The Greens and Labour jointly run Sheffield council. People voted for them expecting them to be on the side of the working class, and take action to solve the housing crisis.
I stood as a Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate in a council by-election in Walkley in August. TUSC stood 26 candidates in May’s local elections in Sheffield, including in Walkley again too.
We used our election campaigns – stalls, public meetings, canvassing – to call for rent caps and a no-cuts budget. After the election, Socialist Party campaigners delivered this petition to Sheffield City Council:
- Encourage all private tenants to complain to the council about substandard conditions, and for the council to send inspectors to enforce improvements, under the threat of substantial fines
- Encourage mass challenges of rent increases
- License the whole city, forcing landlords to require a license to operate
- Begin a mass council house building programme to keep rents down – send the bill to new Labour prime minister Andy Burnham
I presented our petition, saying: “The UK is suffering a housing crisis. Two years ago, Keir Starmer’s government promised a ‘council housing revolution’.
“This summer, Andy Burnham promised the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period. For many private renters here, none of that has meant anything yet.
“I’m here today to ask this council to act.”
Dire conditions
Green councillor Douglas Jones, chair of the council’s housing policy committee, replied. He had recently been challenged by Acorn Sheffield, who said his office had left a woman living in dire conditions for years.
Douglas Jones said: “Setting up rent controls for the private-rented sector is simply not within the legal powers of the council… The Renters’ Rights Act gives [councils] a degree of control on rent increases, but nothing to control rents themselves…
“Sheffield has a pretty good record on dealing with repair issues and on prosecuting landlords. We were actually the most effective in the country for taking serious action on landlords who don’t come up to scratch…
“You mentioned council house building, which I think pretty well all of us support. Doing it isn’t quite straightforward.
“You’re right that there isn’t a legal obstacle to council building. But there is a financial one…
“Technically [new housing in Shirecliffe] is not being built by the council. But the houses will become part of the council’s housing stock when they’re done. So at least something is happening.”
Working-class people do not expect these excuses. We need action to end the housing crisis now. And I’d already explained what the council could do when I presented the petition.
“Last year, Labour’s Renters’ Rights Act passed. It also gave councils new powers to enact much-needed and very popular measures that would push back against private rent increases – rent control.
“As it stands, the Act deliberately leaves rent at the market rate, and doesn’t commit to building a single home. With an estimated 100,000 private renters in Sheffield, who’ve seen rents rise 25% on average over five years, the case for change is clear.
“But the best way to control rents is to build. There is no legal obstacle to this council building at massive scale, far beyond what’s in the Sheffield Plan.
“And if the money isn’t there, this council should reject the pressure to cut. And instead build what our communities need and send the bill to Burnham’s government. That political will would be hugely welcomed by this city.”
We can’t wait
When it comes to building houses, the council cannot wait for the blessing of the government. Each successive capitalist government has talked about building houses. But what happened is well below what we need.
1,000 homes planned by the council by 2029 is a drop in the ocean. Sheffield has a waitlist of over 20,000.
Burnham has spoken about ending rough sleeping, and the biggest council house building programme since post-war. To be blunt, if Burnham’s such a big fan of council housing, then I say Sheffield Council should get cracking, and send Burnham the bill!
Read more from TUSC: ‘Housing campaigning possibilities after the Renters’ Rights Act’ at tusc.org.uk
- Eye on the Greens
- What’s your experience of Green councillors, or young Green campaigners on campus? editors@socialistparty.org.uk
