Housing issues

Since my selection as Labour’s parliamentary candidate in Putney in June 2007 I have placed housing at the heart of my campaign locally.  So earlier today I was more than happy to shrug off my early morning inertia and stroll along the promenade to join the gathering of housing professionals and politicians brought together by the Fabians for a breakfast discussion on social housing. 

Perhaps inevitably with a breakfast event, it took a short while for the debate to gather momentum and after a solid if deliberative start the debate arrived at its most interesting and pressing question – how do we meet the huge gap between social housing need and current projections on supply?

No one dissented from the prescription that we need to build more social housing but the debate sparked into life as the discussion moved to the question of whether we should relook at the issue of tenure: in other words, should a council flat always be for life (not just Christmas)?  It became clear that while there was little appetite for such a significant change in how we allocate social housing in this country, the status quo seems untenable while the number of new homes built is failing to meet or even keep up with demand.  Flexibility in tenure (as opposed to flexibility of tenure) seems a clears and perhaps inevitable way to ensure that the social homes of today and tomorrow can meet the needs of some of the most disadvantaged in our communities.

The housing professionals who made up the bulk of audience brought a practical and pragmatic insight into the challenges faced by those who build and manage our social housing stock.  But it was a disappointment to me that there were so few politicians present.  The ever impressive Nick Raynsford – whose exit from Government remains a cause of bafflement to me – was there, as was Islington’s Emily Thornberry and Newham’s directed elected Mayor Robin Wales (as well as this humble PPC for Putney). Aside from the London bias – does the housing crisis exist only in our capital? - it remains a concern about how few Labour politicians appear to place housing at the top of their agenda. 

In this the 60^th anniversary of Labour’s landmark 1949 Housing Act, the challenge for those of us on the left who champion affordable housing is to establish a compelling, coherent and convincing case that puts affordable homes at the front of the queue for new housing.

Stuart King is Labour PPC for Putney