By Sarah Wrack
Your Party must stand in the local elections in May on a programme that could actually transform things for the millions living in poverty and misery as a result of the housing crisis. Socialist Alternative is raising the following programme in local YP branches.
1. (Actually) affordable rents
The government classifies affordable housing as under 80% of market rate. But when the market is obscenely out of control, that is totally meaningless – 80% of astronomical is still unaffordable. And besides, there is no attempt to enforce ‘affordable’.
Rents need to be capped at a level related to wages and benefits. Spending more than 30% of gross income on housing is considered a sign of housing poverty. So 30% of the average wage in a local area may be a good starting point for an upper cap on rents.
2. Being a landlord is not a right
Many local authorities now have compulsory licensing of private landlords. But they have not used this power to enforce standards or lower rents. It is simply a way for them to raise money (the cost of which is undoubtedly passed on to tenants through rent increases) while they rubber-stamp all sorts of exploitative, rip-off landlords.
Councils have the power to say no – to refuse to issue a license to any landlord who is attempting to charge an unaffordable rent, or to charge desperate tenants for dangerous, overcrowded, or otherwise sub-standard accommodation.
3. Let the real experts decide
Decisions about affordable rent caps, and about who should (and should not) be issued with licenses, should be made by democratically elected committees. These could be composed of representatives from trade unions, housing workers, and tenants. They are the ones who really know the situation facing renters, and have the potential to change things.
4. More homes, more jobs
1.33 million families are on council house waiting lists. That is a drop in the ocean of those who both need and want a secure and affordable place to live but are not even able to apply for the council waiting list. Local councils need to take action to urgently increase council housing stock to meet the huge need.
One million homes are lying empty in England alone – councils could explore compulsory purchase of the quarter of those that have been empty for more than six months. Using reserves and borrowing powers to embark on their own building and renovation schemes would undercut dodgy developers, boost local housing stock, and create thousands of skilled jobs and training in the process.
5. Stand and fight
Any council that took the kind of steps outlined here would instantly be a beacon to working-class people around the country. In one council alone, these measures could make a big difference – albeit partial and temporary.
But combined with mass action like protests, strikes of housing workers, and student actions, it could be the start of a movement capable of forcing concessions from the government and ultimately of bringing about the type of political change that is needed to win decent, secure, affordable homes for all.
