With all the other news at the moment, Labour’s announcement of its policy for housing has slipped down the agenda. But it is, and always has been, an important issue and deserves serious consideration. People need somewhere to live, and various studies have shown that good housing is a precursor to solving many social problems.
Much of the debate at the moment is panic in the Conservative press about relaxing the ability of local authorities to simply block new housing, and also the proposal to allow some building in semi-derelict parts of the green belt. There is not much effort to look at the problem as a whole.
Housing tenure statistics
The actual statistics of housing tenure, or types of housing, and how they have changed over the last twenty years are surprising. The proportion of all housing which is owner-occupied has changed little over the last twenty years, despite all the noise from politicians, and if anything has declined slightly.
The proportion of all housing which was owner-occupied in 2003 was 71%. In 2023 it was 63%.The remainder was rented. The biggest changes have been the composition of this sector. In 1990 private rented was about 10% of all housing, with the remaining (20%) what we call the “social rented” sector.This was divided evenly between council and housing associations. Council housing is managed directly by councils. Housing Associations are independent non-profit organisations, although many have links with local authorities.
Since 1990 many local authorities have transferred their stock to housing associations. The main reason is that housing associations can borrow against the value of their stock, whereas funding for council housing is controlled by the government. The total stock of social housing is now 16% of the total, with 10% of that housing associations and 6% local authorities.
Other services provided
Local Authorities not only provided housing, but other services as well, such as debt counselling and policies to control anti-social behaviour, the ultimate sanction being eviction. Many encouraged tenant involvements in the management of the housing. Tenants also had a good degree of security.
Private landlords simply provide housing, and tenancies are not always secure. A landlord can decide that he or she would rather use the property for a holiday let or Airbnb, and the tenant has very little redress. This is a real problem in many holiday resorts.
Assumptions by politicians that everyone wants to be a homeowner
Rather than look at housing holistically, politicians have assumed that everyone wants to be a homeowner. Many Conservatives thought that people who bought their own houses would become lifelong Conservatives, and continually talked of a “property owning democracy” Council tenants were assumed to be “client voters” who would vote for Labour councils in the belief they would keep their rents down. David Cameron is reputed to have said, when asked to provide funding for more council housing, “Well they all vote Labour don’t they”.
It is certainly true that rented housing, and council housing in particular, has been stigmatised as inferior, and as the supply of council housing has dwindled, councils have been obliged to restrict allocations only to people seen to need it. A proper housing policy should dispense with these prejudices and instead provide what is required for everyone.
There are not enough houses. The answer is to build more. This does not mean give carte blanche to developers to build what they like. They make most money out of family homes, not small ones for young people or bungalows for senior citizens. Local authorities must plug these gaps.They can provide the smaller dwellings young people need, and also bungalows for older people. If the private sector will not provide then local authorities should be funded to do it.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to buy your own house and those that want to should be encouraged to do it. Building more “social” housing, however, increases the supply, and the cost of private housing will come down.
Should not just be seen as an investment- housing is something people need
Housing should not simply be seen as an investment either, but something which people need. Government needs to give some thought to how to restrict people from buying housing simply to make an income from letting it when there is a demand from people for housing to either buy or rent for themselves. This does not simply happen in seaside towns. I have seen housing on new developments bought simply to make an income for someone from letting them, while local young people are unable to buy a property. I appreciate this is a difficult issue, but one which needs to be addressed.
What the Labour Party’s policy should be
The Labour Party’s policy, therefore, should be about providing homes for everyone, not simply making it easier to buy houses. Aneurin Bevan is most remembered for founding the NHS, but he also played a major role in solving Britain’s post war housing crisis. He decided to make local authorities the main providers but did not want council housing segregated from other housing. Bevan had a very clear vision for these new communities where “the doctor, the grocer, the butcher and the farm labourer all lived in the same street”.
We need to get rid of our prejudices about how tenants or owner occupiers will behave or vote. Yes, encourage more houses to buy, but for the rest of us, councils have a major role to provide rented accommodation rather than leave it to the private sector.
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