“Whilst there will undoubtedly be a debate over how much funding goes to council housing under Labour, ending Right to Buy is a cost-free policy and would ensure that all new council homes would increase the numbers available, for the first time since 1980.”
By Martin Wicks, Labour Campaign for Council Housing
Unfortunately, housing was once again kept off the agenda of Labour’s Annual Conference in October. There were 20 resolutions which called for an end to Right to Buy (RTB), just one calling for a ‘review’ and one calling for ‘a fair RTB’.
46 CLPs sent housing resolutions to the conference, more than double any other subject. The six subjects voted through the priorities ballot only had 33 resolutions between them! Four of the top six had five or fewer resolutions. Housing gained 92,000 votes, 53,000 shy of the last of the six that was voted through – Defence, which only had two resolutions from CLPs.
There was definitely a campaign to prevent anything getting to the floor of Conference which the leadership did not want debated. Once again, the six priorities recommended by ‘Labour to Win’ were voted through. Sadly, there was also pressure brought to bear on delegates not to vote for Housing, even some delegates whose CLP had sent in a housing resolution. In his speech to the National Housing Federation housing summit, Shadow Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said that Labour would cut the discount for RTB.
However, the National Policy Forum (NPF) document talks of a review, which implies that there will be some delay. The reference to “like for like replacement” does nothing to clear up the question of how it would be paid for. Although the amount is variable, some councils currently only receive a third of the sale price when the government takes its ‘cut’. Given that there was supposed to be a ‘final debt settlement’ in 2012 why should the government be taking anything? Indeed, councils were loaded up with £13 billion more ‘debt’.
When Labour comes into government it will take over the current government’s 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme. We are told that there will be no increase in the amount of funding that the Tories set for this programme. Matthew has talked about “repurposing” the AHP, spending more of it on social rent. However, as Peter Apps of Inside Housing has pointed out, given that the grant for social rent homes is higher than “affordable rent” or shared ownership, if the overall grant is not increased that could actually mean the AHP under Labour producing fewer homes. In any case the grant available is parsimonious. In the first phase of the AHP it was less than £58,000 for a social rent home.
In addition, we do not, as yet, have a commitment to end “affordable rent”, which was introduced as part of the coalition austerity programme, so they could cut grant. AR is a means of making tenants pay for new build via higher rents.
We have been told that Section 106 agreements will be strengthened to provide more funding for “affordable housing”. But it will not be sufficient to build or buy council homes on the scale needed to address the housing crisis. Labour’s position on RTB makes no sense. Senior figures have expressed concern that if they commit to ending RTB the Tories would accuse them of “opposing aspiration”. Yet at the NHF event Matthew spoke of making it more difficult for people to buy. He said we need to “turn off the taps”. Won’t the Tories condemn Labour for “opposing aspiration” just the same when they are making it more difficult for people to buy? In fact, if you want to “turn off the taps”, the most effective way to do it is to end RTB.
The Tories’ argument can be easily dealt with if you explain the social consequences of RTB, shown in the 1.2 million households on the waiting list, and more than 100,000 households in temporary accommodation. So, what can we do in the light of these developments? The Manifesto will not be drawn up until it goes through the ‘Clause 5 meeting’, which involves the NPF members, the NEC, and affiliates, including the unions. Since most of the unions support ending RTB we will be looking to press them to call for ending RTB to be included in the Manifesto.
In the meantime, we are still extending support for our original statement, and we will work to get more Labour Council groups supporting the call. Those of you struggling with insufficient resources to deal with the housing crisis know that ending RTB makes sense. It will stop the loss of stock. Whilst there will undoubtedly be a debate over how much funding goes to council housing under Labour, ending RTB is a cost-free policy and would ensure that all new council homes would increase the numbers available, for the first time since 1980.
- This article was originally published in the November ’23 edition of Labour Briefing.
- Martin Wicks is the Secretary of the Labour Campaign for Council Housing. You can follow them on Facebook and twitter; and follow Martin on Twitter here.
