Labour Party Manifesto 2019: Housing

"Everyone has the right to a decent, secure home. In 1945, Labour promised to ‘proceed with a housing programme with the maximum practical speed until every family in this island has a good standard of accommodation’. 

In 2019, we renew that pledge.But too many people are being denied their right to a good home by our housing system that treats homes as financial assets rather than places to live. 

There is no starker symbol of the failing housing system than the horror of the Grenfell Tower fire. A Labour government will bring system-wide change, so that a tragedy like Grenfell never happens again. 

We will introduce a £1 billion Fire Safety Fund to fit sprinklers and other fire safety measures in all high rise council and housing association tower blocks, enforce the replacement of dangerous Grenfell style cladding on all high-rise homes and buildings, while introducing mandatory building standards and guidance, inspected and enforced by fully trained Fire and Rescue Service fire safety officers. 

Grenfell Tower was the confirmation of a more far reaching crisis. Everyone knows of someone affected by the housing crisis: younger people unable to buy a first home, renters trapped in damp flats, families stuck on council waiting lists, leasehold home-owners hit by unfair fees, people who are homeless living and dying on our streets. The gap between the housing haves and have-nots is at the heart of the injustice in our country today. 

Since 2010, the Conservatives have slashed funding for new homes, refused to regulate for higher standards and given a free hand to commercial property developers. There are fewer new homes for social rent, a million more households stuck renting from a private landlord, 900,000 fewer young people owning a home and more than twice as many people sleeping on our streets. Only Labour has a plan to fix the housing crisis. 

We will act on every front to bring the cost of housing down and standards up, so that everyone has a decent, affordable place to call home. Labour will create a new Department for Housing, make Homes England a more accountable national housing agency and put councils in the driving seat. We will set out a strategy for a flourishing construction sector with a skilled workforce and full rights at work. 

Labour will set up a new English Sovereign Land Trust, with powers to buy land more cheaply for low-cost housing. We will use public land to build this housing, not sell it off to the highest bidder. 

Developers will face new ‘use it or lose it’ taxes on stalled housing developments. We will keep the Land Registry in public hands, and make ownership of land more transparent. We will make brownfield sites the priority for development and protect the green belt.

Labour will tackle the climate crisis and cut energy bills by introducing a tough, new zero-carbon homes standard for all new homes, and upgrading millions of existing homes to make them more energy efficient. 

We will review the planning guidance for developments in flood risk areas. Council and Social Homes The only way to deliver on everyone’s right to a good home is to build publicly funded social housing. 

Labour will deliver a new social house building programme of more than a million homes over a decade, with council housing at its heart. By the end of the Parliament we will be building at an annual rate of at least 150,000 council and social homes, with 100,000 of these built by councils for social rent in the biggest council house building programme in more than a generation. 

We will establish a new duty on councils to plan and build these homes in their area, and fund them to do so, with backing from national government. 

We will scrap the Conservatives’ bogus definition of ‘affordable’, set as high as 80% of market rents, and replace it with a definition linked to local incomes. These council and housing association homes will be more affordable than market housing and built to higher standards. 

We will end the conversion of office blocks to homes that sidestep planning permission through ‘permitted development’.

We will stop the haemorrhage of low cost homes by ending the right to buy, along with the forced conversion of social rented homes to so-called ‘affordable rent’. 

We will review the case for reducing the amount of housing debt councils currently hold. And we will give councils the powers and funding to buy back homes from private landlords. 

We will give tenants a stronger say in the management of their homes and stop social cleansing by making sure regeneration only goes ahead when it has the consent of residents, and that all residents are offered a new property on the same site and terms. 

We will fund a new Decent Homes programme to bring all council and housing association homes up to a good standard. Home Ownership Under the Tories, home ownership is getting further out of reach for more and more people. 

Numbers of new affordable homes to buy have fallen, and fewer younger people can afford their own home. 

We will build more low-cost homes reserved for first-time buyers in every area, including Labour’s new discount homes with prices linked to local incomes. 

We will reform Help to Buy to focus it on first-time buyers on ordinary incomes. 

We will introduce a levy on overseas companies buying housing, while giving local people ‘first dibs’ on new homes built in their area. 

We will bring empty homes back into use by giving councils new powers to tax properties empty for over a year. Labour will end the scandal of leasehold for the millions who have bought their home but don’t feel like they own it. 

We will end the sale of new leasehold properties, abolish unfair fees and conditions, and give leaseholders the right to buy their freehold at a price they can afford. We will introduce equivalent rights for freeholders on privately owned estates. 

Private Renters More than 11 million people rent from a private landlord and many of them are at the sharp end of the housing crisis. We will take urgent action to protect private renters through rent controls, open-ended tenancies, and new, binding minimum standards. Labour will stop runaway rents by capping them with inflation, and give cities powers to cap rents further. 

We will give renters the security they need to make their rented housing a home, with new open-ended tenancies to stop unfair, ‘no fault’ evictions. 

We will make sure every property is up to scratch with new minimum standards, enforced through nationwide licensing and tougher sanctions for landlords who flout the rules. 

We will fund new renters’ unions in every part of the country – to allow renters to organise and defend their rights.

We will get rid of the discriminatory rules that require landlords to check people’s immigration status or that allow them to exclude people on housing benefit. 

We will give councils new powers to regulate short-term lets through companies such as Airbnb. 

Homelessness No one should sleep without a roof over their head in one of the richest countries in the world. But under the Tories, the number of people sleeping rough has more than doubled. Over 125,000 children are now living in temporary accommodation, without a home to call their own – or the space they need to thrive. 

Labour will tackle the root causes of rising homelessness with more affordable homes and stronger rights for renters. Labour will end rough sleeping within five years, with a national plan driven by a prime minister-led task force. We will expand and upgrade hostels, turning them into places where people can turn their lives around. We will make available 8,000 additional homes for people with a history of rough sleeping. 

We will tackle the wider causes of homelessness, raising the Local Housing Allowance in line with the 30th percentile of local rents, and earmarking an additional £1 billion a year for councils’ homelessness services.

We will bring in a new national levy on second homes used as holiday homes to help deal with the homelessness crisis, so that those who have done well from the housing market pay a bit more to help those with no home. 

We will save lives this winter by ensuring extra shelters and support are in place in all areas. And we’ll repeal the Vagrancy Act and amend antisocial behaviour legislation to stop the law being used against people because they are homeless.

(Long post but what a brilliant housing manifesto. Restoring the political duty to decent homes for all is key. If this is implemented we will solve the housing crisis in Newham and elsewhere. I have put bold emphasis and underlined what I think are the most key commitments)

Open letter: Put radical housing policies in Labour’s manifesto

Below is the open letter by Labour Campaign for Council Housing in full.

To Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and John Healey,

We the undersigned welcome the unanimous support of Labour conference for:

• Building 100,000 social rented council homes a year;
• £10bn housing grant a year, ring-fenced for councils to deliver this;
• Ending Right to Buy.

We understand that this is not automatically included in Labour’s next general election manifesto. In light of the unanimous conference vote, we call on the party to include these policies in the manifesto. They are absolutely critical if a Labour government is to begin to resolve the housing crisis.

hat tip LabourList

(Signed by Rokhsana Fiaz, Mayor of Newham, Cllr John Gray, Deputy Mayor of Newham & Cabinet lead for Housing and Cllr Shaban Mohammed, Deputy Cabinet lead for Housing)

Right to Buy: Wrong for London

"Dear John

Tomorrow I’m publishing a new report which reveals the extent to which former council homes sold through the Right to Buy are now being rented out by private landlords. In advance of its publication I wanted to share some of the individual borough findings with Labour councillors in London today.

Across London, 42% of homes sold off through the Right to Buy are now being rented out by private landlords at market rates – up from 36% when I last investigated this issue in 2014.

That’s at least 11,000 more council homes in the hands of private landlords than there were five years ago, a shocking transfer of wealth from the many to the few.

In Newham, 44.6% of former council homes sold through the Right to Buy are now being rented out by private landlords. There are at least 5 individuals in Newham who own five or more former council homes.

My report also reveals that councils in London are spending a total of at least £22 million a year renting back 2,333 of their former council homes to house homeless families. These were homes they were forced to sell at a discount that they now have to pay market rates to rent back.

Newham has to rent back 808 homes at an annual cost of £12,858,869.

This is ludicrous, and the blame lies squarely with Tory government policies.

It would be galling if the crucial work Labour councils across London are doing building new council homes for the first time in a generation was undermined by the continuation of the Right to Buy.

That’s why I’m asking people to take action by signing this petition calling on Theresa May to end Right to Buy in England. The Scottish and Welsh governments have already done so.

I would be extremely grateful if you could promote this petition on social media so that it can attract as much support as possible.

The full report will be published on my website tomorrow along with the data tables. If you have any questions about the research, or would like to discuss it, please let me know".

Best wishes,

Tom Copley AM
London Assembly Member | City Hall Labour housing spokesperson

(this is a great evidence backed campaign led by Tom which should be supported by all of us concerned with the housing crisis in London and elsewhere. I have signed the petition)

"Newham at forefront of Housing Crisis"

Hat tip Newham Recorder for a pretty full on report on the housing crisis in our borough.

The new mayor of Newham has slammed the loss of nearly 10,000 council homes under Right to Buy since the 1980s – saying the policy has exacerbated the bitter housing crisis in the borough.

Labour mayor Rokhsana Fiaz has called for an end to the divisive scheme blaming it for swelling the number of private landlords in Newham.

“Right to Buy is supporting the growth of the private rented sector rather than its original intention of supporting social tenants to purchase their own home,” she said.

Some 47 per cent of social homes in Newham bought through Right to Buy are now in the private rented sector, according to town hall figures.

Meanwhile 4,892 households are unable to find an affordable home and have sought council help for emergency housing.

“The massive discounts of up to £108,000 [to buy council houses] in London, together with rules around the use of Right to Buy receipts has meant it is impossible to replace these desperately needed social homes and keep pace with growing demand for them,” said Cllr Fiaz.

“Soaring rents, a skewed housing market and stagnant wages are fuelling the housing crisis we are seeing in Newham and across London.”

She set out her vision for the future of housing the borough and pledged to:

- Build at least 1,000 council homes at social rents by 2022

- Begin building 100 of these in her first year in office

- Ensure 50 per cent of all homes built in Newham in the next four years are at social rents

- Stamp out criminal practices by private landlords

- Make the private rented sector safer and more affordable for families.

But these measures are unlikely to make a significant dent in the 27,228 households currently on the council’s housing register.

It comes as the Recorder’s Hidden Homeless investigation has revealed Newham has the highest level of homelessness in the capital.

The staggering level of housing need has resulted in 3,292 households being moved out of the borough the five years to 2017, and 14 per cent out of London altogether to places as far away as Birmingham and Thurrock.

There are now more homeless Newham households living in temporary flats, B&Bs and hostels than anywhere else in London.

“In Newham, we have lost 1,178 social rented council homes over the last eight years and it is one of the reasons why the number of genuinely affordable homes has declined dramatically,” said the mayor. “Until we can change that, we have little choice but to house our residents in expensive temporary accommodation, which is not ideal at all.”

Private landlords are also taking advantage of this housing demand, “with many hiking up rents to a level our residents can’t afford”, said the mayor.

Housing reform was at the forefront of the mayor’s successful bid to win power at the local elections in May.

We asked for an interview with Cllr Fiaz to discuss housing policy. She was unable to meet the Recorder but provided answers to detailed questions.

We asked why six years after the 2012 Olympics and the promise of significant numbers of new homes, Newham was at the forefront of the housing crisis.

“We’ve been challenging the London Legacy Development Corporation on the limited delivery of genuinely affordable housing as they own the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and are responsible for all development delivered as part of the legacy promised before the Olympics came to Newham – including housing,” she said. “I’m determined that under my administration we keep on pushing partners to deliver genuinely affordable housing for local residents.”

She also said in an ideal world the tens of millions spent annually paying for temporary housing would instead be invested in new affordable homes.

“I’d love for us to build loads of new homes,” she said. “This is my ideal world, and I am really frustrated that we are constrained by finances and the reluctance of the government who are stopping us and other councils borrowing to build the homes our resident’s desperately need.”

She said a campaign on housing would be launched this autumn, but provided no more details on the specifics.

In her first week in office she also met Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, deputy mayor of London for housing James Murray, and shadow secretary of state for housing MP John Healey to look at working together to solve the housing crisis.

Asked what her vision for council housing in Newham is, the new mayor said: “I am committed to reversing the chronic failure to build affordable social homes in the capital.”

But, echoing other council leaders across Lodnon, she says the government needs to lift restrictions on local authorities borrowing to build homes.

“I am working closely with the Mayor of London and other partners to ensure we maximise all opportunities and funding available to build more homes in the borough,” she said.

(Photo Cabinet member for housing John Gray, mayor of Newham Rokhsana Fiaz, and deputy mayor for housing, James Murray. Picture: Andrew Baker)

"Councils face replacement property drought"

"Two-thirds of councils will be unable to replace all the homes sold under Right to Buy without significant reform of the system, according to the Local Government Association.

The LGA this week released research it commissioned from property consultancy Savills which showed that more than 60,000 homes have been sold off in the last six years at, on average, half the market rate. The sales leave councils with enough funding to build, or buy, just 14,000 replacement homes. The LGA is calling on the government to allow all councils to borrow for building new homes, keep 100% of all sales receipts, and have the power to set Right to Buy discounts locally. Martin Tett, LGA housing spokesman, said councils needed “urgent” support to replace the homes sold off under the Right to Buy scheme. “Without a pipeline of new homes, future generations cannot benefit from the scheme,” said Tett.

http://www.room151.co.uk/brief/#councils-face-replacement-property-drought

I thought the tories promised "like for like" replacement of Right to buy properties sold?

Over a million people on Council waiting list. Let's turn Benefits into Bricks?

Many thanks to Shelter for their report highlighting the National Housing waiting list crisis. There is more than a million people on UK Housing waiting lists. Newham is highlighted as having proportionally the worse crisis in the entire country. 

For every home in Newham that we were able to supply last year there were 44 households waiting to be rehoused. We have only in total some 18,000 tenanted homes in the borough and 25,729 households on our waiting list.

But only 588 homes were available for social rent in 2016/17.

So do the maths.

Even worse we are still being forced to sell off our best family homes under right to buy. 46.7% of homes sold under right to buy are sublet in the private marker. The Government now has to pay huge amounts of housing benefit to pay these exorbitant rents to private landlords. Which do not produce a single new home.

According to another Shelter report last year we also have the worst homeless crisis in London with 13,566 in temporary accommodation. 

The new administration in Newham under Executive Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, and all Labour Councillors are absolutely committed to dealing with this crisis.

Watch this space. There are things we can and will do.

In the meantime another public report last week said that Newham spent £90 million on housing benefits for homelessness during the last 2 years.

How many social rent homes could that £90 million provide if spent on bricks and building new homes? Never mind the even more huge amounts spent on subsidising private landlords housing benefit for low paid working households.

Let's turn benefits into bricks and build homes. Are you listening Prime Minster "One Nation" Theresa May? 

Excellent update on extending the "right to buy" to Housing associations by enforced sale council assets - Redbrick blog

The strange case of a government housing policy that won’t happen by stevehilditch

By Ross Fraser

Everyone in the sector will recall the surprise late insertion into the 2015 Conservative election manifesto of a policy to extend the right to buy to housing association tenants – funded by the enforced sale of council assets.

I recall chairing a post-election consultation meeting between DCLG and housing association CEOs and local authority directors of housing in July 2015 – when DCLG asked for advice on how to implement the sale of council assets.

Over two years on, DCLG still hasn’t arrived at a formula setting out how it will calculate the value of assets to be disposed by each authority – let alone consult the sector on it.   There is a simple reason for this – developing the formula is extremely difficult and ensuring that all authorities will deem it ‘fair’ is simply impossible.

Then there is the issue that the bulk of asset sales are likely to fall on the London stock-retaining boroughs.  A flat rate formula (requiring say the top 5% in value of all English retained council stock to be sold when vacant) will not raise enough money to fund the extension of right to buy to associations, so any levy is likely to be tougher on London. The authorities most-affected will be Conservative controlled councils such as Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster and Wandsworth.   The leadership of these councils has indicated complete opposition to the government’s proposals.

It is unsurprising, therefore, that there was no reference in the 2017 Conservative election manifesto to housing association right to buy or forced council asset sales.

Post-Grenfell – and DCLG’s apparent refusal to support council (and housing association) reinvestment in fire safety – the concept of forced asset sales has become even more toxic.

Then there is the fact that the policy requires secondary Parliamentary approval before it can be enacted.  The government only has a simple majority with DUP support.  Inside Housing has reported that up to 15 Conservative MPS are prepared to either vote against the measure or abstain – presumably including members whose constituencies fall within Conservative-controlled London boroughs.  And as we have been recently reminded, DUP support for the government’s legislative programme does not extend to social or welfare legislation.

The simple fact is that the forced asset sales measure will never gain Parliamentary approval and will eventually go the way of the now discarded Pay to Stay proposals.    And if there are no forced asset sales there will be no extension of the right to buy to housing association tenants.

My advice to DCLG is ‘come clean’ and formally drop the policy – any further work is a waste of time.  Councils need to know where they stand as, according to senior sources in local government, the uncertainty is holding back their ability to invest in new housing, essential maintenance and fire safety remedial works.   It’s in no-one’s interest to maintain this facade any longer.

Housing speech at UNISON National Labour Link Forum

John Gray, speaking on behalf of your National Labour Link Committee in favour of motion 11 (similar)  "Why we need to build a new housing consensus for affordable and decent homes for all"
as amended.

"Chair, Forum, In 1945 General election campaign, that took place after the end of the second world war, the wartime Tory Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, was shouted down  at a rally in East London by crowds who demanded a mass house building programme.

The failure by the Tories to convince the public that they would build enough homes at an affordable rent was one of the reasons for the shock Labour victory.

For the next 34 years the Tories had learnt their lesson about the importance of housing and there was a national consensus all political parties competed with Labour at every local and national election on who could provide the most homes and the cheapest rents.

Then in 1979 Margaret Thatcher was elected and the Tories began dismantling public housing, destroying the consensus by divide and rule - and denying millions of people their basic human right to a home.

The Tories 38 year strategy of dismantling public housing has been the biggest privatisation in this country’s history.

The Right to Buy was misnamed from the start – it was a Right to a Discount – and 38 years on, we find that huge numbers of the homes that have been sold and not replaced.

Today, there are 1.5 million fewer homes available for a rent, that people on low incomes can afford, than there was 38 years ago - and the population has grown dramatically since.

In this parliament over £100bn will be spent paying housing benefit to private landlords and it won’t produce a single new home.

Forum, like many of you here today, I work in housing and my substantive job is as a housing officer of a large estate in the east end of London with 7 tower blocks.

Let us never forget that this attack on the provision of public housing is the reason why there were so many families with young children, disabled and elderly residents on the 18th floor of a tower block.

The scandal that surrounds the Grenfell House tragedy lies not just in the repeated failure of government to listen to and act on the advice they received but in the Conservative political mantra that all regulations are just "elf & safety" and therefore ‘bad’.

Forum, the general election campaign changed the public debate on housing and other key issues in this country. The tide of public opinion is turning. this motion provides the basis for UNISON to play its role in ending the dismantling of public housing and beginning a new era of providing quality, safe council and housing association homes with good space standards at rents people can actually afford.

Please support this motion.

(see a longer version of motion sent to NDC here  and read Yvonne Green speech proposing the motion here)

UPDATE: with regard to shock 1945 election result see this fascinating article. 

#UNDC "Why we need to build a new housing consensus for affordable and decent homes for all"

This is the speech I gave on Thursday on behalf of the NEC about  the Housing motion  put forward by London Region and my branch.

"Conference/Chair

John Gray, Community NEC, speaking in favour of motion 36 as amended.  I happen also to be a housing officer for 24 years whose substantive post is to help manage a large estate in East London with 7 high rise tower blocks.

Conference, for far too long, housing has been the political dog that did not bark. 

The general election campaign changed the public debate in this country and showed that finally 38 years after the Tories began dismantling public housing - and denying millions of people their basic human right to a home – the tide of public opinion is turning.

Today there are 1,500,000 fewer homes available for a rent, that people on low incomes can afford, than there was 38 years ago - and the population has grown dramatically since.

 I can say that this is why families with children, the elderly and disabled end up being housed on the 18th floor of a tower block.

The scandal that surrounds the Grenfell House tragedy lies not just in the repeated failure of government to listen to and act on the advice they received but in the Conservative political mantra that regulation is ‘bad’.

The Tories 38 year strategy of dismantling public housing has been the biggest privatisation in this country’s history. The Right to Buy was misnamed from the start – it was a Right to a Discount – and 38 years on, we find that huge numbers of the homes that have been sold are now owned by private landlords, in one case the son of the Tory Minister that introduced the Right to Buy, and often in companies registered in tax havens.

And the Tories knew that caps to the local housing allowance would drive low income households out of central London – this is social cleansing – and if the Tories have their way, it is what will happen in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Newcastle too

In this parliament over £100bn will be spent paying housing benefit to private landlords and it won’t produce a single new home.

Conference, how can people afford to buy when house prices are rising at 5%, 6%, 7% a year and wages are growing at 1% or 2%?

Conference, this motion provides the basis for UNISON to play its role in ending the dismantling of public housing and beginning a new era of providing quality, safe council and housing association homes with good space standards at rents people can actually afford.

Please support this motion.

"Axe the Housing Act": UNISON Motion to London Labour Conference 2016

This is below a motion by Greater London UNISON Regional Labour Link to the London Labour Party Conference next Saturday 12 November. 

"Housing continues to be the biggest challenge that Londoners face in the capital today with many who grew up in the city now unable to live here, rent taking an ever increasing proportion of wages and Londoners being pushed further and further into the suburbs as prices in central London continue to soar.  

Home ownership is becoming a distant dream for many and the increasing numbers sleeping rough on the streets is evident for all to see.

This Regional Conference notes that housing formed a key issue during the recent London Mayoral election.  We welcome the election of Sadiq Khan as Labour Mayor and the manifesto commitments he made to build genuinely affordable homes for Londoners.

The recently passed Housing & Planning Act contains controversial measures such as the Right to Buy and forced sale of higher value councils homes which will lead to a further depletion of social and affordable homes in London.

Under the Pay to Stay policy social housing tenants who live in London with a combined household income of more than £40,000 will be liable to pay up to market value or lose their home.  Those who work in London and live outside who have a total income of £31,000 face the same.  Although there will be a certain disregard it will mean a massive increase in rent and tenants could face, what will effectively be, an income tax penalty rate of 83%. Those affected will be not just the well paid but caretakers, school cooks, street cleaners, hospital porters, gardeners. 

The policy will be voluntary for Housing Associations (who will be able to keep additional rents collected to invest in housing) but local authorities will be compelled to implement it without keeping the income generated from increased rents – this will have to be all remitted to the Government.

The LGA has recently estimated that more than 70,000 tenants will have to pay an average rent rise of £1000 per year under pay to stay.

Housing officers will be required to demand personal and private financial information from all tenants even those who have never applied for housing or council benefits. 

Under the Right to Buy policy councils are required to consider the sale of vacant ‘higher value’ council homes and to remit the income generated from sales to the Treasury to fund the extension of the Right to Buy to Housing Associations tenants which will be offered by Housing Associations on a voluntary basis.

The Tories claim that Starter Homes will solve the Housing Crisis. According to the treasury however only 30% of the population will ever be able to afford such homes. What about the 70%!

Furthermore the Act will also end lifetime security of tenure, restrict successions of tenancies undermine the role of the regulator and give greater planning powers to private developers. 

Fixing London’s housing crisis is undoubtedly the single biggest thing Labour can do to improve the lives of Londoners.

This Regional Conferences notes that the Government will have to return to Parliament to gain approvals for regulations and enabling legislation. This gives us campaigning opportunities. 

This Regional Conference calls for:-

• ·         All Labour Councils, Mayor, Assembly members, Labour Groups and CLPs in London to actively campaign against the Act and to oppose its implementation.
•  ·         To lobby Housing Associations and persuade them not to take volunteer to sell their stock under right to buy and impose the pay to stay tax on their tenants.
•  ·         Whenever possible to organise local public meetings and publish information about what the Act means to residents 
•  ·         To work together with tenants, residents, community groups and trade unions to oppose the Act

A great picture above of UNISON National Labour Link Committee with the now London Labour Mayor, Sadiq Khan last year. He gave us a inspiring speech on how Labour can make a real difference to housing policy.

I understand that there is at least one other Housing motion on Saturday so if this one passes Standing Orders committee then it is likely to be what we call "composited" (that is combined with the other Housing motion) at the conference next weekend.

Newham UNISON AGM 2016: Right to Buy and Pay to Stay

Last Friday I was a guest speaker at the UNISON Newham Local Government branch AGM in East Ham Town Hall. I spoke about the Housing Bill which is currently going through the House of Lords. I was there as a Housing Worker and UNISON Regional Council Officer.

Gloria Hanson (2nd left) and Kim Silver (3rd left) had been re-elected unopposed as Branch Secretary and Chair.

There was a really good presentation first by Thompson Solicitors (left) on "How to win a personal injury claim and how the union can help". After I spoke, UNISON Regional manager Vicky Easton gave an update on the Trade Union Bill.


Before my speech I asked how many people present had heard about "Pay to Stay" and only about half put their hands up. I then asked how many were Council or Housing Association's tenants and again about half put their hands up.

This is really frightening. Leaving aside for the moment that the Government is stealing property belonging to hard pressed Councils to pay for its right to buy discount election bribe for Housing Association tenants (and London will be used to pay for discount in Councils all over the Country that has sold or transferred its housing stock)

What tenants do not understand is under "Pay to Stay" if they have an household income of £40k per year in London (and £30k elsewhere) their rent may double or even treble! Since they will have to pay market rents for their homes. In London this will mean that two NHS nurses earning £20k per year would have to pay up to an incredible £12k extra per year for their home.

In the Q&A there was an interesting discussion about what politics actually means and why there is apathy amongst some union members even if government policies have a huge impact on their lives.

I said what many people don't realise is that politics is all about choices. The current government has made a political choice to double or even triple the rents for millions of workers. They made this choice because they ideologically believe in the "market" and everyone should pay the market rate. If you don't think that this is right then you should either support another political party who opposes it or just pay up and don't whinge about it. Your choice!

Extending the "Right to Buy" to Housing Associations and "Pay to Stay".

"Pay to Stay" seems to be finally making the news. This is the speech I made at the UNISON London regional AGM this month, while moving my branches motion on this and "Right to buy". The motion was passed unanimously and will go to the UNISON national delegate conference in June.

"Council, John Gray, speaking as a delegate from Greater London Housing Association branch but who is also a Community NEC member, moving motion 4, on extending the right to buy to Housing associations and the so called “pay to stay”.

Council, I have always suspected that these modern day Tories don’t like, don’t understand and don’t care about working class people but their current plans for social housing certainly proves it.

The Tory plan is simple, it is to make future generations pay for their pre-General election bribes, on extending the right to buy by stealing homes from Councils and making them sell these already scarce and inadequate resources, on the open market to pay for it.

Let us be very clear here. At a time of chronic housing shortage. The Tories are going to make Councils sell their homes, their stock to pay for this discount for Housing association tenants? This cannot be right.

London is most at risk from this. Since it seems, we will be forced to sell our London Council homes to pay for the discount in other parts of the country where there is no Council housing, since they have already been sold off or transferred their homes to housing association. Since they have no Council housing they have nothing to sell.

Council, make no mistake, The Tories are coming to London for your homes and those that should have been let in the future for your children.

This also means that while a number of existing Housing association tenants may feel they have no choice but to buy and take on huge mortgages and communal repair risk, it will mean that their children and everyone else's, will have even less of a chance of obtaining a social home in the future.

Of course many tenants will simply not earn enough money to buy a home in London regardless of discount and will not be allowed a mortgage.

Not only this, but the so called “pay to stay” scheme, which will be compulsory for all Council tenants and probably compulsory for housing associations tenants, will result in double or triple or even more rises in their rents. If you or your family household income is more than £40,000 per year (or £30,00 out of the capital) in London (remember family income would be if you and your partner both work or have grown up children who work) you will have to “Pay-to-Stay” full market rental rates to stay in your home.

This could mean your rent for a 2 bed room flat in inner London increasing from £150 per week to as much as £600 per week or more.

If you don’t pay for “pay-to-stay”, be under no illusions, that you and your family will eventually be evicted and could be thrown on the streets.

Council, we have to oppose and campaign against this attack - and all the other Tory attacks on working people.

We shouldn’t really be that horrified or surprised about all this, since this what Tories do when they are in power.

We have to make the case that secure and affordable housing is a basic human right and an absolute duty of the state to make sure their citizens are decently housed.

Council, please, not only support this motion but join us and campaign together against this recipe for housing misery for our members now and in the future.

Council, I move. 

London Reception #Lab15

After arriving at the hotel in Brighton and picking up my delegation pack from unison office, I went to my first conference event, the London Labour Party reception.

This is the annual shin dig for London delegates and Party members. London Labour Chair and Assembly member Len Duvall opened the reception.

The guest speaker was of course London MP and newly elected Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.  The meeting was packed and when Jeremy arrived he took ages to make his way through the crowd as he stopped to greet and speak to people. I managed to tease him for not turning up to our London Unison Labour Link meeting last week to give his quarterly Parliamentary report.  Jeremy being Jeremy, he sincerely apologised and said he will try and attend a future meeting. I said we would not denounce him on this occasion.

He gave a rousing and even emotional speech which went down well. I am trying to work out when the last time a London MP was Labour Party leader.

Dawn Butler MP spoke about the successes that London Labour had in May and introduced our new MPs.

Unison regional secretary Linda Perks introduced the next keynote speaker, Labour London Mayoral candidate, Sadiq Khan. His election next May as Mayor will be crucial to the Labour recovery.

During the reception I was able to join in with some fairly heavy duty lobbying about Housing Associations attempts to do a dodgy deal with the Government in favour of Right-to-buy and rat out local authorities. I hope that delegates will bring this up with CEOs at the conference fringes sponsored by Housing Associations.

Afterwards a very mixed bunch of us from Newham and a number of other CLPs went off for a meal to carry on chatting, arguing and (occasionally) gossiping. 

Housing Associations: Don't Give in to Right-to-Buy Sell off Sell out!

Check out Inside Housing on the Governments attempt to bully Housing Associations to agree to a "voluntary" right to buy scheme within the next week. This is wrong on a number of counts. I have posted the comment below in the Inside Housing website on this stupid and desperate proposal.  

If you are a resident of a Housing Association or have any "pull" on its Board then let them know your opposition.

"Divide and Conquer? Don't do it!

This looks like Councils will still be forced to sell off stock to fund the discount (aka election bribe) at the expense of the homeless and the vulnerable. New build will still cost more than money from Right to buy receipts so reducing the total social housing stock even further.

Housing associations are not the property of their Chief Executives or even Chairs of Boards and this matter should be subject to full Board oversight and consultation with residents after due diligence.

This is a sign of desperation by the Government because they know that they not may not be able to get in through the House of Lords as well as facing numerous legal challenges (including adding Housing Association debt to government public debt).

Housing associations should remind themselves of their social purpose and mission.  The crumbs being offered are nowhere near enough. They should stand up to Government bullying.

So don't do it. The sector should work with Councils, trade unions and resident groups to oppose this destruction of Social Housing. Turkeys should not vote for Christmas."

UPDATE: Labour Housing shadow minister John Healey and London Labour Assembly Tom Copley slam the proposals here. While London Councils attack the proposal and the National Housing Federation for betrayal here.

Evidence from the UNISON Housing Associations Branch to the Select Committee

"We are a London-based branch of the national trade union UNISON, which organises workers providing public services. 

We organise over 3,000 workers across Greater London who are employed by housing associations and are recognised by most of the G15 housing associations as well as a number of smaller housing organisations. 

We welcome the opportunity to submit evidence to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee and have consulted with our members and activists in order to compile this response.

Background
·                     Last year housing associations were assured that they could plan ahead for the future with a new rent increase model of CPI inflation plus 1% increases per year. Instead they have now been instructed to apply a 1% cut in rent every year for the next 4 years. This could mean that some will go bust since they modelled an increase into their business plans when they took loans and bonds to pay for new building. There is an advantage to social tenants in receiving a cut in rents but not if it leads to a net decrease in the social housing stock. 

·                      The reductions in rents will also inevitably mean threats to jobs and services. Housing associations have been for many years been providing additional services to residents such as floating support to vulnerable tenants, job training and youth clubs. These will all be at risk. 

·                     Housing costs in London are high and decent housing is scarce. The cost of non-socially provided housing in London outside is unsustainable, with private rents averaging £1,500/month, and the average cost of buying a house at around £480,000 (nearly 20 x average wages). Extending the Right to Buy to HA tenants is therefore likely to be extremely popular with London residents; for many this may be their only hope of every buying a property. For some inner London boroughs the number of properties purchased under Right to Buy is over 60%.

Implications of extending Right to Buy to housing associations

·                     Extending Right to Buy will also mean some housing associations going to the wall especially if the government does not fully refund any discount (which will be over £100k in London). Others will have financial problems with paying off early fixed rate loans (such as LOBOs) and meeting their convenants, even if they get the full value of any sale. 

·                     Many housing associations currently have charitable status and many of them have benefited from money or gifts of land in the past. This could cause problems with their status if they sell property in this way. This is a real threat to the existence of many associations and means that after years of real-terms pay cuts or stagnation our members may find themselves out of work altogether.

·                      If local authorities have to sell their housing stock in order to fund the discount then that will be not only unfair but financially disastrous for them and their tenants. The 3 year settlement on council housing finances has also been ripped up.  

·                     It has been rumoured that instead the government will take away the remaining subsidy for new investment and use it to fund the discount. This will pretty much end the supply of new homes at sub-market rents in expensive areas such as London. 

·                     Even if the government does fully refund the cost of Right to Buy (which has not yet been clarified) then since new homes costs more to build than existing properties there will still be an overall reduction in social homes. With high land prices and opportunities for development in inner London low, selling off housing association properties through Right to Buy would mean a net decrease in the numbers of social housing properties across the capital, as properties are sold and not replaced.

Changes to benefits

·                     The proposed maximum benefit cap of £23k per family in London and £20k outside will not only result in more evictions and rent arrears especially for tenants with children. It will also make it harder for landlords to let their empty properties to residents on waiting lists since many will not be able to afford the rent due to the cap. This is crazy.

·                     The so called "pay to stay" will mean that tenants who earn over £40k in London (and £30k outside) will have to pay "market rates". This will be unworkable unless housing associations are given the powers to demand income details from tenants with criminal sanctions, which will of course, go down badly with all tenants. Changes to benefits such as the bedroom tax have already increased the workloads and stress levels of our members, who do a difficult job at the frontline of the government’s austerity regime.

·                     If "pay to stay" does go ahead and means that renters are charged full market rent they will be effectively forced to try and exercise the right to buy in order to stay in their homes. Even if you are on £40k per year salary in London, you will find it difficult to get a mortgage even with a discount – the Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association recently advertised a property in Hackney for sale under a supposedly ‘affordable’ shared ownership scheme for £1,000,000. Market rents will be completely unaffordable in parts of the city. This will increase social cleansing leaving large parts of London available only to the very rich.

·                     Inside Housing recently showed that around 40% of council houses sold under Right to Buy are currently being rented privately. There is no reason why this pattern should not be repeated in the housing association sector, meaning that private landlords will benefit from homes built through public subsidy. Furthermore, many of these properties are occupied by tenants who are claiming housing benefit – a transfer of wealth from the state to private landlords which would be completely unnecessary if these properties were still owned by local authorities.  It is this transfer of housing benefit to private landlords which has led to the Conservative government claiming that the welfare bill is unsustainable and to their cuts to the social security system – a problem that could be solving by relieving the pressure on housing both in London and nationwide.

·                     It is also possible that the certain individuals and rogue companies will be looking to make deals with vulnerable tenants into "loans" to enable them to buy their property in order to get hold of the £100k discount.

Sustainable future
·         The UNISON Housing Associations branch believes that the housing crisis, particularly in London, will not be solved and indeed will be worsened by extending Right to Buy to housing associations. As workers we feel this will remove or dilute the social aspects of our work and lead to increased stress, job losses and the forced closures of many associations. As housing workers and as London residents we do not feel this is the way to solve the housing crisis.

·         We call for a programme of mass house-building in the capital, both for social rent and for private ownership. We also call for greatly increased regulation in the private rented sector to give tenants greater protection and security of tenure, and for rent controls to be reintroduced and rents capped at a “Living Rent” set by an independent commission.

·         We note that Right to Buy for housing associations was defeated in the 1990s following a broad based campaign against it. The UNISON Housing Associations branch will continue to campaign against Right to Buy in housing associations and for a fair and sustainable solution to the housing crisis.

Select Committee on Future for Housing Associations - Have your say

My UNISON branch Greater London Housing Associations and the national UNISON Community Service Group Executive are asking members to make submissions to the Parliamentary Select Committee investigation into the future of Housing Associations. See below. 

I posted here my thoughts on the problems facing the sector. I have since found that Newham has the most expensive Housing Association rents in the country despite having the lowest wages in the capital. Why?

(SGE) "MP's are holding an inquiry into the viability and sustainability of housing associations. This inquiry looks at the proposed extension of Right to Buy and how this and a number of other government measures may impact on the ability of housing associations to build and develop.  
 
The National Community Service Group will be submitting a response, however our response will be stronger if branches and activists also respond using the links below.  
 
Could you please send a copy of your response to cvsector@unison.co.uk
 
Please note the deadline is 28 August 2015
 
For more information on the inquiry please click on:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/communities-and-local-government-committee/news-parliament-2015/housing-association-sector-right-to-buy-inquiry-launch/

To submit your response please click on:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/communities-and-local-government-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/housing-association-sector-and-right-to-buy/commons-written-submission-form/
 
(HAB) Dear Branch activists,

As you may be aware the Conservative party promised to extend Right to Buy to Housing Associations. The Communities and Local Government Select Committee will be hearing evidence for and against this proposal and as the trade union representing Housing Associations workers UNISON would like to get the views of its members and activists in order to submit evidence to the committee.

If you have a view, please reply to this email on or before Friday 21st August saying whether you oppose extending Right to Buy to Housing Associations and what impact you feel this would have.

UNISON Housing Associations Branch.

(hat tip Photo to top trouble maker comrade Paul McCabe)

The Future of Housing Associations & Social Housing

Yesterday we had the news that Genesis, a large Housing Association is to stop building homes for rent following the recent Government budget.

Today, Inside Housing magazine reports that other housing associations are seeking advice on how to deregister as social landlords and become completely private bodies. By doing so they think they can avoid the recent measures.

This is a watershed moment. Not only for housing associations but for all social housing including council stock as well.

The Communities and Local Government Select Committee is looking into the future of Housing Associations and there is a call for written evidence by Friday 28 August 2015. I am sure that UNISON will be sending a submission and I will also be consulting with my branch (Greater London Housing Associations Branch) on making a response.

The key threats are :-

• 1% cut in rents that Housing Associations can charge for the next 4 years when only last year they were told that they can plan ahead assuming a 1% increase plus inflation for the next 10 years. This could mean that some will go bust since they modelled an increase into their business plans when they took loans and bonds to pay for new build. Good news for Housing benefit and tenants but not if it means they get Rachman & Sons as their new landlord. 

•  The reduction in rents will also inevitable mean threats to jobs and services. Housing associations have been for many years been providing additional services to residents such as floating support to vulnerable tenants, job training and youth clubs. These will all be at risk. 

• The proposed maximum benefit cap of £23k per family in London and £20k outside will not only result in more evictions and rent arrears especially for tenants with children. It will also make it harder for landlords to let their empty properties to residents on waiting lists since many will not be able to afford the rent due to the cap. This is crazy.

• Extending the Right to Buy will also mean some housing associations going to the wall especailly if the government does not fully refund any discount (100k in London). Others will have financial problems with paying off early fixed rate loans (such as LOBOs) and meeting their convenants even if they get the full value of any sale. 

• Housing associations are at the moment "charities" and many of them have benefited from money or gifts of land in the past and this could cause problems with their status if they sell property in this way.

•  If local authorities have to sell their stock in order to fund the discount then that will be not only unfair but financially disastrous for them and their tenants. The 3 year settlement on council housing finances has also been ripped up.  

• It is rumoured that instead the government will take away the remaining subsidy for new investment and use it to fund the discount. This will pretty much end the supply of new homes at sub market rents in expensive areas such as London. 

• Even if the government does fully refund the cost of Right to Buy (which I doubt) then since new homes costs more to build than exisitng properties there will still be an overall reduction in social homes.

• The so called "pay to stay" will mean that tenants who earn over £40k in London (and £30k outside) will have to pay "market rates". This will be unworkable unless Housing Associations are given the powers to demand income details from tenants with criminal sanctions, which will of course, go down badly with all tenants. I thought this government was against means testing? 

• If "pay to stay" does go ahead and means that renters are charged full market rent they will be effectively forced to try and exercise the right to buy in order to stay in their homes. Even if you are on £40k per year salary in London, you will find it difficult to get a mortgage even with a discount. Market rents will be completely unaffordable in parts of the City.

• I have no doubt that the certain individuals and rogue companies will be looking to making deals with vulnerable tenants into "loans" to enable them to buy their property in order to get hold of the £100k discount.

All in all, the sector is facing a crisis and a threat to its future but we have been here before. Right to Buy for housing associations was defeated in the 1990s following a broadbased campaign against it. The government is vulnerable to pressure on housing. We must campaign against these changes.

Even Tory MPs must understand that if government grant is taken away from building new homes and rents reduced then the current grossly inadeaquate supply of housing will get even worse. The leader of Tory Westminster Council, Phillipa Roe, said it would wipe out "swathes" of social housing and leave it unable to house residents in need.

The issue is not just the future of housing associations or council housing but where will the elderly poor, the disabled, the unemployed and the low paid live in the future? In workhouses, in "barracks for the poor" or in British versions of Les banlieues slums?