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| Labour aims to be tenants' champion but cheaper housing will take time | Labour aims to be tenants' champion but cheaper housing will take time |
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| For decades the Tories have pitched themselves as the homeowners’ party. In Brighton, Jeremy Corbyn made it clear that Labour wants to be the champion of a smaller but increasingly politicised electorate: tenants. | |
| Concern is crystallising in both parties that voters will punish hard any failure to tackle the housing crisis at the next election. This month the communities secretary, Sajid Javid, launched a green paper on social housing in response to the Grenfell Tower disaster. On Wednesday, Corbyn made a trio of promises aimed at the 20% of UK households who rent and others who want to buy but are angry at rising costs and poor conditions. | |
| Corbyn caught the ear of Britain’s 4.5 million renter households by promising rent controls in some cities, guaranteed homes for existing tenants on redeveloped estates, and a tax on developers who fail to build on empty sites. | |
| The shadow communities secretary, John Healey, a housing minister in Gordon Brown’s government, has been developing the policy for some time, but it is politically timely, not least because renters are an increasingly diverse group. The last decade has seen an increase of almost 1 million households with children relying on landlords. | The shadow communities secretary, John Healey, a housing minister in Gordon Brown’s government, has been developing the policy for some time, but it is politically timely, not least because renters are an increasingly diverse group. The last decade has seen an increase of almost 1 million households with children relying on landlords. |
| But neither young nor old should hold their breath for immediately cheaper housing under Labour, even if Corbyn raised the spectre of intergenerational inequality as he judged it was “not sustainable” that millennials’ housing costs as a proportion of their income were three times more than their grandparents’. | But neither young nor old should hold their breath for immediately cheaper housing under Labour, even if Corbyn raised the spectre of intergenerational inequality as he judged it was “not sustainable” that millennials’ housing costs as a proportion of their income were three times more than their grandparents’. |
| Rent controls were in Labour’s election manifesto and Labour insiders indicate they are considering the least radical of the rent-control options that have been used in the past. Rather than setting rents at levels lower than at present, which charities from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to Shelter believe will cause landlords to sell up or underinvest in homes, leading to poor conditions, they propose caps on increases. | |
| Rent controls were in place across England for much of the 20th century, starting in the first world war and ending in 1988. Over the period they were in place, private rented housing went from making up 90% of homes to 10%, with rent controls “widely identified as a factor in this decline”, according to the House of Commons library. | |
| Labour may offer more stability by making three-year tenancies the norm, but renters can expect to save only a few pounds a week with a cap. Greater flexibility may be afforded to city mayors to limit rent increases, especially with Labour in charge in Greater Manchester, Bristol and London. The new system of “rent pressure zones” being launched in Scotland in December may be a model. Cities with particular affordability crises will apply to the Holyrood government to impose limits on rent increases. | Labour may offer more stability by making three-year tenancies the norm, but renters can expect to save only a few pounds a week with a cap. Greater flexibility may be afforded to city mayors to limit rent increases, especially with Labour in charge in Greater Manchester, Bristol and London. The new system of “rent pressure zones” being launched in Scotland in December may be a model. Cities with particular affordability crises will apply to the Holyrood government to impose limits on rent increases. |
| Corbyn’s attack on “forced gentrification and social cleansing” seemed to target some of the most controversial cases of regeneration, such as the Aylesbury estate in Southwark where council tenants were moved out as private developers moved in. | Corbyn’s attack on “forced gentrification and social cleansing” seemed to target some of the most controversial cases of regeneration, such as the Aylesbury estate in Southwark where council tenants were moved out as private developers moved in. |
| The Labour leader said people who live on a redeveloped estate must get a home on the same site and the same terms as before, which observers pointed out would probably require gap funding from councils to ensure projects do not become unviable. If Corbyn’s pledge that “we will stop the cuts to social security” extends to ending the freeze on housing benefit, that could also help landlords of new developments rehouse council house tenants in new, improved and more expensive properties. | The Labour leader said people who live on a redeveloped estate must get a home on the same site and the same terms as before, which observers pointed out would probably require gap funding from councils to ensure projects do not become unviable. If Corbyn’s pledge that “we will stop the cuts to social security” extends to ending the freeze on housing benefit, that could also help landlords of new developments rehouse council house tenants in new, improved and more expensive properties. |
| His proposal that councils will have to win a ballot of existing tenants and leaseholders before any redevelopment scheme can take place is seen as a sensible extension of a common practice of holding votes when council housing is transferred to housing associations. It is likely to block the greediest developers but many would welcome the consent. | His proposal that councils will have to win a ballot of existing tenants and leaseholders before any redevelopment scheme can take place is seen as a sensible extension of a common practice of holding votes when council housing is transferred to housing associations. It is likely to block the greediest developers but many would welcome the consent. |
| Finally, Corbyn turned his fire on property developers who sit on undeveloped land, promising first a tax and then powers to compulsorily purchase such sites. He might also have had in mind developers who fail to redevelop existing buildings, and cited Ed Miliband’s 2013 warning to developers to “use it or lose it”. Changing the CPO system would be complex. | Finally, Corbyn turned his fire on property developers who sit on undeveloped land, promising first a tax and then powers to compulsorily purchase such sites. He might also have had in mind developers who fail to redevelop existing buildings, and cited Ed Miliband’s 2013 warning to developers to “use it or lose it”. Changing the CPO system would be complex. |