Just over a week ago, Labour’s London Housing Spokesman Tom Copley argued that the previous Labour government’s record on social housing construction was poor and should be apologised for.
In addition to being true, the quote itself is useful for Liberal Democrat campaigners facing attacks on our housing record, despite already committing to building more social and affordable housing in this parliament than the previous Labour government managed in thirteen years. The full quote is as follows:
“As a Labour politician one of the things that really galls me is that there’s this statistic that more council homes were built in the last year of Thatcher’s government than were built in the 13 years of Labour government, and that’s something I think as a Labour Party we need to apologise for.”
Haringey Motion
We’ve also seen this housing motion from the Haringey Lib Dem group. Labour have amended the motion but accepted a number of recommendations from the GLA Lib Dems’ housing and jobs report mentioned in the motion:
The Council acknowledges:
The ambitious plan to deliver 270,000 new affordable homes in the capital by 2018 and create jobs as set out by Liberal Democrat London Assembly Members Stephen Knight and Caroline Pidgeon in a report launched in October.
The Council notes that:
· The plans set out to turn around the total failure over the last 35 years to build a sufficient number of affordable homes in the capital, leading to not only soaring rents but also a soaring Housing Benefit bill.
· Haringey Council has not build any council homes for 26 years and the last ones the council built were 6 flats in Hornsey.
· That thousands of people are on the housing waiting list in Haringey and that more council homes need to be built.
· That if the 7 point plan in the Affordable Homes and Jobs for London report were to be implemented this would benefit Haringey by making it easier to build council homes and would also create jobs for the local economy.
The Council also notes the main recommendations in the Affordable Homes and Jobs for London report:
· The Mayor of London to double his investment in affordable homes by borrowing against the Greater London Authority’s £11.2bn annual revenue budget under prudential borrowing rules.
· The Mayor of London to use most, if not all, GLA-owned land for affordable homes.
· Government to scrap the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap, enabling the London boroughs to invest in affordable housing under prudential borrowing rules.
· Government to increase its investment in affordable homes, shifting the balance of its spending from housing benefit to bricks and mortar.
· Devolution of responsibility for Skills Funding Agency money for London to the Mayor of London, so that it can be better focused on addressing local needs.
· A package of measures to help SMEs in the construction sector take advantage of the work generated by the programme.
· The Mayor of London to act as a one stop shop for construction apprenticeships, streamlining the process for SMEs in particular and providing career development for apprentices.
· Government to increase its investment in affordable homes, shifting the balance of its spending from housing benefit to bricks and mortar.
· Devolution of responsibility for Skills Funding Agency money for London to the Mayor, so that it can be better focused on addressing local needs.
· A package of measures to help SMEs in the construction sector take advantage of the work generated by the programme.
· The Mayor of London to act as a one stop shop for construction apprenticeships, streamlining the process for SMEs in particular and providing career development for apprentices.
The Council resolves to endorse the main recommendations in the Affordable Homes and Jobs for London report.
ALDC members can download an MS Word version of this motion from the ALDC File Library, here.