The LHG has begun to seek support for a conference motion for councils to be given increased powers of intervention over badly performing housing associations. It has also called for house building to be increased by 20,000 additional homes a year.
Jacky Peacock, spokesperson for the LHG, said: “We are pleased that housing has been given a lot of priority and the government has given a commitment to housing investment, but all the signs are that this is nothing like as much as is needed.”
Calls for a ‘fourth option’ – direct investment to improve council homes and estates – have been backed by Defend Council Housing (DCH), an organisation against the privitisation of council housing. In an open letter to the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, it outlined:
“The Labour Party Manifesto in 2005 promised: ‘By 2010, we will ensure that all social tenants benefit from a decent warm home, with modern facilities.’ The government’s existing policy is failing to meet this commitment.”
DCH said a fourth option, which would ringfence money generated from property tenants’ rent and capital receipts, would be more than enough to fund direct investment in council housing and enable all local authorities to meet the Decent Homes standard.
Paul Hunt, head of marketing at Platform, commented: “The right-to-buy scheme has undoubtedly been a success in terms of home ownership, but the instability of successive governments to replenish social housing stock has resulted in the current shortage of such housing. New ideas on how to ensure adequate social housing is available should be supported and welcomed.”
