Labour's green paper Housing for the Many was issued back in April 2018. It sets out Labour's plan to change the country's approach to affordable housing as part of a new national mission to solve the country's housing crisis. The promises include a commitment to one million new genuinely affordable homes over a 10 year period. Other pledges include:
- Define a new 'affordable housing' as linked to local income.
- Scrap the Conservatives' 'affordable rent' homes priced at up to 80% of market rates
- Stop the sell-off of 50,000 social rented homes a year by suspending the right to buy
- Stop all conversions to 'affordable rent'
- Scrap the government's plans to force councils to sell the best of their homes
- Back councils and housing associations with new funding, powers and flexibilities to build again at scale
- Transform the planning system with a new duty to deliver affordable homes, an English Sovereign Land Trust to make more land available more cheaply and an end to the 'viability' loophole that lets developers dodge their contribution to more affordable homes.
In addition Labour proposes to:
- Make safe homes for all the very highest priority with sprinklers fitted in high-rise blocks and fire safety the first standard in a new Decent Homes 2 programme
- Provide new rights for affordable housing residents, including tenants on boards, consumer rights standards and a vote on estate regeneration schemes
- Affordable homes will be built to leading-edge standards on energy efficiency and equipped with design and smart tech
- Scrap the legislation to end long-term council tenancies.
This article is for general information only and reflects the position at the date of publication. It does not constitute legal advice.