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From The Socialist newspaper, 22 November 2017
Councils' £1bn on commercial property amid housing crisis
Bricks Building Housing, photo Scott Lewis/CC, photo Scott Lewis/CC (Click to enlarge)
Councils in England and Wales are set to gamble £1 billion on commercial property ventures. That's enough to build over 8,000 new council homes.
The figures come from estate agent Savills, which found councils had spent £758 million this way in the first two-thirds of 2017.
Perhaps councillors plan to move the 1.2 million households on council waiting lists into the hotels they're buying? Maybe office and shopping centre workers can just kip over after closing time now their local authorities own them?
Never mind encouraging property speculators - councils have become them. Send these town halls eviction notices, down to the last Tory and Blairite. Build council homes now.
James Ivens
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In The Socialist 22 November 2017:
What we think
Budget: lying Hammond says no unemployed
Scottish Labour
What does the left victory in Scottish Labour mean?
International socialist news and analysis
Zimbabwe: Mugabe gone - but his regime remains in power
Australia: massive yes vote for marriage equality
Workplace news and analysis
Scotland: BiFab workers' occupation and march secures jobs and pay guarantee
Usdaw general secretary coronation
Leeds college workers protest poor pay rises
Virgin train workers vote for strike action over pay
Sheffield Eastern Ave Job Centre strike ends
Housing crisis
Posh estate agent's housing crisis solution: make your own sandwiches
Councils' £1bn on commercial property
Socialist Party news and analysis
Gentrification on the terraces: fans say twenty's plenty
Carbon dioxide hits 800,000-year high: end profit-driven pollution
Socialist Students
Lively student demonstration for free education could have been much bigger
Socialism 2017 Socialist Students meet-up
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Nottingham 'Reclaim the Night' march highlights cuts
Southampton: Corbynista success but cuts continue
Socialist readers' comments and reviews
Disability cuts outrage: my story
Left comic's take on politics will have you in tears
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