黑洞社区

Labour are to go on the 鈥渁ttack鈥� over the government鈥檚 鈥渁bysmal鈥� housing record, according to Labour鈥檚 shadow junior housing minister Roberta Blackman-Woods.

Speaking at a Labour party conference fringe event yesterday, Blackman-Woods said the shadow housing team would 鈥渃oncentrate, for a period of time, on attacking the government鈥檚 record鈥�, adding that she had concerns about the Conservative government鈥檚 鈥渨atering down鈥� of planning laws, including section 106, which she said Labour would 鈥渞etain and strengthen鈥�.

Her comments came ahead of publication today of a Labour discussion paper which recommends building up to 100,000 affordable public homes a year to rent and buy by 2020. The paper - published by the shadow cabinet minister for housing John Healey - draws on research by PricewaterhouseCoopers which claims a new public housebuilding programme could pay for itself by bringing down the burgeoning housing benefit bill.

The discussion paper is not currently Labour policy and makes no recommendations, but new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has already pledged to make housing a key policy priority.

Blackman-Woods told conference delegates people could expect to hear more from Labour on Garden Cities, which she said had 鈥渇allen off the agenda,鈥� but could increase supply and provide 鈥渃ommunities people want to live in鈥�.

On the possibility of Jeremy Corbyn鈥檚 idea Peoples Quantative Easing being used to fund social housing Blackman-Woods said 鈥淚 think we need to see more detail on that鈥�.

Crest Nicholson executive director Chris Tinker, who was also speaking at the fringe event, noted that 鈥渄elivery has been rising in the private sector鈥� but 鈥渋ndustry capacity is now the big challenge鈥�.

Healey鈥檚 discussion paper claims the Conservative party are the 鈥減arty of higher housing benefit鈥�, with people in work having to claim housing benefit on a large scale, and soaring costs, which could hit 拢45bn in today鈥檚 prices by 2045.

Healey said: 鈥淎fter five years of failure with the Tories, it is time to think bigger and be bolder about how we could fix Britain鈥檚 chronic housing problems. I hope this report helps kick off the wide debate I believe is needed in the country about our housing costs crisis.

鈥淚n the first year of a new five year Parliament it is time for a serious conversation about the problems millions of people face with little hope of a decent, affordable home to buy or rent.

鈥淭he truth is the cost of housing crisis is big enough for every part of the public and private sector to play a much bigger part.鈥�