CONTENTS

politics first | Corridors
A definite and imperative need
for a Right to Build housing policy
Grahame Morris, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and
Local Government and Labour MP for Easington
I want to build a consensus on housing. Whilst details
between the parties will inevitably differ, the simple
starting point, for us all, should be to build more homes
and acknowledge that there has been a collective failure
by successive governments.
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The previous Labour Government failed to
reverse the trend which started in the 1980s
with the utter collapse in building new council
housing. The Right to Buy could have been
an opportunity to unleash a home owning
democracy, as well as creating revenues to
build a new generation of council housing. It
is worth remembering that the Labour Party’s
1959 general election manifesto contained a
commitment to introduce a right to buy.
However, when Margaret Thatcher’s
Government introduced that, two decades later,
the receipts from right to buy sales were snaffled
up by the treasury, while Tory government
financial restrictions stopped local councils
using the revenues from council houses sales
to replenish local housing stock. That pincer
movement meant that the housing stock sold
off was not replaced because councils were
effectively forced out of house building.
The epitaph for Right to Buy is that the
number of homeowners is at a thirty year low,
and the “Generation Rent” seem indefinitely
locked out of home ownership. The public
purse is also counting the cost with increased
spending on housing benefit being used to
subsidise high rents and provide inflated profit
margins for private landlords.
The Coalition/Conservative Government’s
interventions, to date, have done nothing to
address the supply issues within the housing
market. The various government schemes,
such as starter homes, help to buy and shared
ownership, have done little to expand home
ownership. In many cases, they have simply
assisted those already well-placed to get
a foot on the housing ladder. Meanwhile,
people on low and middle incomes remain
locked out, trapped in expensive private rented
accommodation or, increasingly, living at home
with their parents into their thirties.
The current situation is unsustainable, and
for those who oppose any regulation of rents in
the private sector, the only solution is to build
our way out of the crisis.
But while we have heard a lot of talk about
tackling the housing crisis, housing policy over
the last six years can best be characterised
as six years of failure.
So, the Government must now turn to
a trusted and willing partner to address the
housing crisis, and put four decades of failing
housing policy behind them.
Local authorities have a historic role in
house building, and up until the late 1970s
they were delivering in excess of 100,000 new
homes a year.
Local Government is uniquely placed to
address the housing crisis, thanks to its local
knowledge and expertise of specific housing
circumstances. That provides an insight which
is simply not available in Whitehall.
We need to give Local Authorities the “Right
to Build” a new generation of council housing.
The Local Government Association has
called for councils to be allowed to borrow
to invest in housing, to earmark receipts from
homes sold under the Right to Buy to build
new homes.
We cannot delay; there has never been a
better time to borrow at historically low rates.
New house building will create a virtuous circle,
delivering new homes, jobs, and economic
stimulus. Such an investment would also boost
a construction industry caught in the grips
of uncertainty following the European Union
referendum.
The figures are already widely known;
every £1 spent on construction generates an
additional £2.09 in economic output; for every
£1 spent in building, 92 pence stays in the UK;
and for every £1 spent by the public sector, 56
pence returns to the Exchequer, of which 36
pence is direct savings in tax and benefits.
Labour’s pledge to invest £500 billion in
Britain, through regional investment banks,
has housing as a key priority and will ensure
councils get the low cost finance to build the
housing their communities need.
We need a Government which recognises
the importance of housing. It should be viewed
as an essential part of our national infrastructure,
as well as an opportunity to improve living
standards and extend opportunity. In short,
investment in housing is one that will pay
numerous dividends.
We therefore cannot afford the status quo to
prevail. I am convinced that now is the time
to build the homes that will give “Generation
Rent” the opportunities for homeownership that
were available to their parents.