More funding for councils is needed to build affordable homes and protect tenant rights in the UK, according to Labour Party policy aims
More funding for councils is needed to build affordable homes and tenant rights in the UK, it is claimed. The Labour Party has put forward a number of policy aims relating to the restoration of legal aid for housing advice to solve the housing crisis in Britain. It aims to helping tenants beat rogue landlords as part of its plan to make sure that everyone has the right to a safe and decent home.
The Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon said that the withdrawal of legal advice in many housing cases has weakened tenants’ rights and benefitted rogue landlords. He said that the party will restore legal aid for housing advice which could help up to 50,000 households a year.
He said the withdrawal of legal advice in many housing cases has weakened tenants’ rights, which can only benefit rogue landlords. Restoring this legal aid for housing advice will help tens of thousands of people resolve their housing issues and regain their housing rights.
Meanwhile, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, pledged to build enough housing and make housing affordable to those who need it. At the launch of the party’s affordable housing review he said that if it comes to power it would deliver a million genuinely affordable homes over 10 years, the majority of which would be for social rent.
He pointed out that house building has been declining steadily for the past few decades, with over 350,000 house building a year at the beginning of the 1970s to well below 200,000 at present. The only times when enough affordable housing have been built is when councils have stepped up. To turn this around will require radical measures to properly fund, empower, and support councils to deliver affordable housing for all. He explained that it would create a new era of social housing, in which councils are once again the major deliverers of social and genuinely affordable housing and set the benchmark for the highest size and environmental standards.
According to Campbell Robb, chief executive of the independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), the policy announcement should encourage the current Government to create more affordable homes. He said voters across all wage brackets want to see action on housing and it is simply not right that so many people in the country are locked out of the opportunity to build a decent and secure life because of crippling housing costs.
He added that this recognises the scale of the housing crisis and why there is a need to drive up the supply of low cost rented homes. It puts pressure on the Government to match this ambition and deliver the low cost rented homes struggling families desperately need. The Government’s forthcoming social housing green paper must commit to increasing the supply of low-cost rented homes in England.
