Cllr Madeleine Kirk Calls for Action on Social Housing

Speech by Madeleine Kirk delivered to City of York Council on Thu 27th Nov 2008

Motion

"This council urges the Government to act quickly to remove the barriers which currently deter local authorities and registered Social landlords from purchasing homes, from the private sector, to add to the pool of social rented accommodation available in the City of York area."

Lord Mayor, members of council,

I believe there is a pressing need to increase the number of social housing properties within the City of York.

At the moment there are in the region of 1.6million households on the waiting list in England -

that represents around 4 million people or I person in 13.

With the unexpected severity of the global credit crunch

and the ever looming housing crash with escalating repossessions (11,300 homes between July & September of this year)

and a series of inter-related economic factors

an unprecedented demand for council homes has been created which councils,

including the City of York are struggling to meet.

I don't want to bombard you with statistics this evening

but I think it is important that we all understand the scale of the problem which is facing councils and RSL's nationally.

Figures from the Ministry of Justice for Quarter 3 2008

show that here in York

844 homes have either been the subject of a mortgage possession or a landlord possession this year.

That's 844 families having to go through the stress of losing their home and

by the end of the year it could be as many as 1,200

or more as there are projections that social housing demands will exceed all expectations

and could reach 2 million households by 2010,

or one in ten people. (Shelter)

The problems caused by the shortage of social housing are many fold:

Applicants often have to spend years on a waiting list before being allocated a permanent home

Homeless and vulnerable residents may have no choice but to live in insecure temporary accommodation

The shortage of social housing results in only the most vulnerable being successful in getting a home

Well, the Liberal Democrats propose

that the government gives social landlords financial freedom

to but un-sellable property, at a discount, to reinvigorate the housing market

and provide those much needed homes for those on

low incomes or the homeless.

This plan would inject money into the troubled housing market, help banks cope with the credit crunch

and allow City of York Council to meet its local housing need.

Now, our Labour members here

will no doubt remind us that the government is planning

to allow councils and social landlords to spend £200m on buying about 1,500 homes across the country

over several years (£133,333 on average for each home)

Note - The average house price in Yorkshire & the Humber according to the Northern Housing Consortium November 2008 is £169,700, that's a 4.2% increase on the average price of £162,900 at this time last year.

But to be frank that's pathetic

and here in York it would barely register on the waiting list.

We think the government

should be looking to increase this to 150,000 homes

which would at least have some kind of impact n the millions of people already on waiting lists across the country

It is essential that we do not fall victim

to the spin that heralded Gordon Brown's new-found commitment to social housing.

It cannot hide the 10 years of abject neglect of social housing under this Labour Government.

The Labour manifesto of 1997

lambasted the Conservatives' woeful record on social housing,

but things have got worse not better,

and the continuing neglect has left over 1.6 million families on waiting lists -

a 63% increase since Labour came to power.

Just as the home ownership market teeters on the edge of an early 1990s-style repossession disaster.

We now face the worst crisis in Social Housing since 'Cathy Come Home'

So please please, support this motion.

Thank you