Penelope Dawber, Lancashire Socialist Party
As housing and renting costs continue to rise while wages stagnate, the eyes of the working class are rightly focused on the housing market and if it will change for the better. Predictably, the King’s Speech showed that very little will actually change.
In his speech, a new Social Housing Renewal Bill was announced, alongside two others attempting to curb the sale of council housing, and incentivise the building of new council houses. On the surface this sounds fantastic, but a closer look at the details shows where it is lacking.
While it increases the eligibility of social housing to apply for Right to Buy to ten years, and will exempt newly built houses from the programme for 35 years, this does not outright abolish the practice that takes much needed houses out of council ownership.
Similarly, though a sister ‘Remediation Bill’ will put a requirement on building manufacturers to fix any unsafe cladding, alongside the Renewal Bill streamlining housing construction consent and removing the requirements for local authorities to sell off ‘high-value’ homes, the requirement to fix unsafe cladding does not go far enough to address the many issues and safety hazards faced in social housing.
But councils don’t have to wait. A willing council could act now to invest in building council homes, using borrowing powers and reserves – demanding Starmer’s weak-and-divided government pays up. And it is also possible for councils to take steps towards rent controls. Council rents should be frozen and private landlords made to register and comply with safety and affordability standards.
While housing continues to be used for big business speculation, the housing cost crisis will continue. We need a socialist plan to meet needs, based on nationalisation and workers’ democratic control.
