Housing Bill Could Mean The End Of Council Tenancies, Say Experts
The government’s housing and planning bill was debated in the Commons last Tuesday (5.1.16), with discussion over amendments dragging on until 2 in the morning.
The debate took so long because there are real concerns that the bill is badly thought out and could, in effect, see the end of council tenancies. This, at a time when there is a severe shortage of affordable housing, has prompted some commentators to label the bill as “ideological” and a further Tory attack on the some of the poorest members of our society.
Proposals in the bill include measures to extend the ‘right-to-buy’ to housing association tenants, introduce ‘pay-to-stay’ charges for tenants in council houses earning over £30,000 per household a year (£40,000 in London) and the forced sale of high value vacant local authority properties.
Speaking in The Guardian, Terrie Alafat, chief executive of the Chartered Institute for Housing, said: “We have serious concerns about pay-to-stay, which we believe could discourage social housing tenants from increasing their earnings or finding work, as well as pushing people into housing benefit entitlement.”
“Many people aspire to buy a home – and no-one is saying the government shouldn’t support that – but what about people who simply can’t afford to buy?”
Danny Dorling, professor of human geography at Oxford University, agrees there are serious flaws in the bill. “The housing bill means that those who govern us do not understand us” he said.
“They do not know why it is important to have security of tenure, to know that you will be able to stay in your home while your children grow up and go to school, without having to repeatedly move home and school.”
Alan Matthews, chair of trustees at Bosco House, feels the future for young people hoping to set up home and those on low incomes is not looking good. “I grew up on a council estate in Netherton in the 1950s and 60s, when new houses were being built left right and centre. It was a time of aspiration and there was real hope for the future.”
“Now, that safety net of affordable housing is being eroded and, over time, it seems it will disappear. For many young families looking to bring up their children in a home with a future, as well as older residents looking to remain in the house they’ve lived in all their lives, things are looking bleak.”
MPs agreed a programme motion on 5 January 2016 that schedules the remaining stages on the bill to take place over two days. Further proceedings on report stage, legislative grand committee and third reading are scheduled to take place on day two. The date for the second day of remaining stages is this Tuesday, 12th of January 2016.
