‘Rough sleeping is only the tip of the iceberg’

• ONE-hundred-and-forty-eight people died sleeping rough on the streets of London last year.

Since the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government got into office in 2010 homelessness and rough sleeping has skyrocketed.

There are now an estimated 8,800 to 9,000 sleeping rough in London alone. Britain faces the gravest housing crisis since the war; rough sleeping is only the tip of the iceberg.

Virtually no housing has been built for those on low and average income because of government policies going back to Margaret Thatcher.

While luxury housing is going up nearly everywhere, often bought by “overseas purchasers” years before completion, little is built for ordinary working people.

Boris Johnson boasts: “We built a record amount [of housing] 240,000 last year – 57,000 affordable.” Which means 183,000 was unaffordable. What is “affordable” to Tories – 80 per cent of market rents – is unaffordable to 80 per cent of the population.

The Tories tried to abolish council housing with their 2016 Housing and Planning Act, which sought to end security of tenure for council tenants, force local authorities to sell off “high value” properties, and impose a special tax on council tenants, the “pay-to-stay tax”.

The Tories boasted they would force council tenants into the private rented sector, where rents are far higher and there is no security of tenure, where tenants are often ruthlessly exploited, and the accommodation is often in appalling condition.

A Labour amendment in parliament to ensure all housing was fit for human habitation was defeated by the Tories who said it would cause: “unnecessary regulation and cost to landlords.” Nearly 40 per cent of Tory MPs are landlords themselves.

The 2016 act was only defeated by the determined resistance of the tenants’ movement. There can be no doubt if the Tories win this election with a clear majority they will reintroduce it.

The Tories will especially force up rents. It is what they have always done. Since Thatcher rents have risen far faster than incomes, from 10 per cent of income (in 1979) to between 40 and 60 per cent today.

As a proportion of income, rents in Britain are the highest in Europe. High rents are a major cause of poverty.

In this election we have a clear choice. Labour will build 100,000 council homes a year for working people. The Tories will only build luxury housing.

The Tories want to end security of tenure for council tenants. Labour will extend security of tenure to the private rented sector, and make sure all properties in this sector meet the decent homes standard.

The Tories will impose substantial rent increases, Labour will introduce stringent rent controls.

The Tories will continue to ignore the plight of rough sleepers. Labour will build special hostels to house rough sleepers so they are no longer forced to live on the streets.

To the Tories housing is about maximising profit for landlord companies, property developers and speculators.

Labour rejects this ideology, believing everyone should have a decent place to live, as a right, with security of tenure, and at a rent affordable to them.

This is the choice on December 12.

PETE GILMAN
Essex Road, N1