I didn’t like the headline I saw on the frontpage of the Times today: Council homes for life ‘to be scrapped’. While a lot of the arguments in the piece make sense on their own, I think that they are all founded on a false premise – or at least missing the point.
It is true that some people living in council houses see their circumstances improve to the point where if they had to apply for council housing they would not get it, and it does not feel right that those most in need of housing, who could not afford decent housing in the private sector just cannot get to the top of the list while others who could easily afford private rents are occupying council houses so there are none available.
It does feel wrong that some who are most in need are unhoused because of the shortage of supply, but for me that just screams out an argument for increasing the supply rather than undermining the point of council housing.
This whole proposal is based on the idea that council houses are for the poorest of the poor – either that or it is put forward with the intention of making that happen. All that will achieve is to make council estates into ghettos for an underclass. And don’t get me started on taking equity shares… the worst of both worlds, and selling council houses off is a large part of what got us into this mess in the first place.
We have an economy in urgent need of being stimulated by a few housebuilding projects (why not pay all those labourers wages instead of benefits?) and property firms willing to sell off some of their landbanks to get some funds. We should be joining the dots and building affordable homes so that it is not necessary to resort to draconian measures against future council tenants.
Even the Tories, in the person of Grant Schapps, are saying that we need to build more affordable homes – although he is careful not to say where. Henry Smith at West Sussex council is always complaining that there are too many houses being built or planned in the county so I can’t see him being too supportive of this new-found affectionfor social housing in his party.
There are quite a few flaws with the suggestion, and you’ve flagged up most of them. Another is where the people who leave council housing go when there’s a problem with the housing market like now – if no-one is selling houses, how can you buy one? If no bank will give you a mortgage, how can you buy anyway? If the buy-to-let market it all over the place, can you find a decent place to rent?
Of course, we already have something similar because people in council housing who can afford to can buy their homes. The problem is that councils have not been able to replace the stock they’ve sold in that way. As you say, in the current climate we have a load of land for housing not being used, and some projects stalled mid-way because of lack of money. Why not get public money to pick those plots up anf complete the projects for public housing? It would mean that the building trade still had some work, that the social housing shortage could be alleviated, and the property developers get something back in the short term rather than having to wait for a recovery.