According to the Labour Party website the Labour Party have achieved the following in their time in power:
Why Labour?
Labour believes everyone should have access to a decent home, at an affordable price, in the area where they want to live. We have made real progress since 1997 in tackling Britain’s housing challenges, turning around a £19 billion maintenance backlog in Britain’s social housing stock which the Tories left behind. There are over a million more home owners; and we have delivered major improvements in social housing conditions, and taken action to cut homelessness by two thirds.
In difficult economic times, Labour is committed to doing everything possible to provide support for borrowers facing difficulties, and promoting the long-term stability of the market. We are taking action to support homeowners through the downturn, introducing the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme and other measures to help prevent repossessions. We have put in place new arrangements to make it easier for local authorities and housing associations to deliver a new generation of affordable housing, while working to support the construction industry.
Key achievements:
* The Decent Homes scheme has helped to deliver over £20 billion investment for major improvements in social housing conditions – lifting over one million households out of cold, damp or poor housing and turning round the £19 billion maintenance backlog left by the Tories in 1997.
* Over three quarters of all new homes are now built on previously developed brownfield land, up from 56 per cent in 1997.
* Rough sleeping has dropped by over two thirds and homelessness is at its lowest level since the early 1980s.
* Abolished stamp duty for people buying houses through one of the existing shared ownership schemes.
* Allocated government funding to buy up unsold properties to use as affordable housing.
* We are establishing Local Authority Housing Companies, giving local authorities a greater say and role in building new affordable housing.
New Labour, your Britain:
* We have announced a £1 billion package of support for homeowners and first time buyers to: Help first time buyers get onto the housing ladder with increased shared equity support; Help homeowners in difficulty; Support the house-building industry; and Bring forward £400 million of government spending to deliver up to 5,500 new social rented homes over the next eighteen months.
* We have extended the stamp duty holiday on properties under £175,000 to the end of 2009.
* We have set a goal that from 2016 all new homes should be zero carbon.
* We are putting in place arrangements to allow local authorities and housing associations to start delivering a new generation of social housing.
* In Budget 2009, we announced a £600 million funding package to build more homes through unlocking sites currently sitting dormant.
Labour Party Housing Policy :http://www.labour.org.uk/housing
I would be interested to hear both positive and negative views on Labour’s Housing policies in the comments below?
By handing over council housing to independent companies has really destroyed the fairness of council housing. I am a fulltime working single mother, who still lives at home with my parents as i cant afford to rent a home. LABOUR run council in Bristol outright told mne to give up work and claim then i would DEFINATELY get a house from the council! I work because i Can and enjoy having self respect!
Labour want to give away free housing to immigigrants and English people that cant be bothered to work!! It makes me sick that they cant help people that are helping themselves.
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Why do people like you make up lies like these? Don’t tell me, you plan to vote BNP.
Social housing is based on a points based system, not whether you work or not or ability to pay the rent! Paying rent has noting whatsoever to do with getting social housing since those who can not afford rent get housing benefit (that would include you if you were telling the truth).
You say you live at home with parents and you are a single mother.
If this was true, you will gain points based on your circumstances, if the property you live in is suitable for you and your child(ren) you won’t get many points, if it isn’t suitable you will get more points. More points you get, closer to getting social housing, being in work is not part of the system for awarding housing.
It’s based on need and need alone.
There will always be those who find themselves in more need than you under your current situation, people with no home at all. You have a roof over your head, they do not.
Is it fair that those in greater need than you get a home while you’ve been waiting longer than they have? No.
Would it be fair for you to get a home while those in greater need than you became homeless? No.
It’s an imperfect system because there’s not enough social housing, blame the Conservatives in the first instance for selling off council housing and not replacing it and the Labour government for not reversing the trend (they’ve done a little, but not nearly enough).
Immigrants do not take loads of council houses, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5384516.stm
“As of June 2006, 110 council homes across England had been let to Accession Eight workers – representing 0.04% of the total number of available homes.”
Makes me angry when people like you make up crap like this to demonise migrant workers when they are not even eligible to go on council waiting lists in most areas.
Lets imagine you are being truthful, how would giving up your job get you a council house exactly?
Note: I’ve lived in council and housing association properties up until about 5 years ago when we bought our first home. I understand how the system works as I’ve had the tenancy to 5 council/housing association properties in my life and had to wait for enough points to move to better properties (and lived in another 4 council properties as a child) with the last one we got via the Homeswap scheme (find a tenant who will swap tenancies with you).
I got my first 1 bedroom council flat when I was 17 because I was living in a cupboard (5 1/2 foot long by about 4 foot, with the cold water tank above my head) in my Gran’s bedsit that was within a warden controlled property (technically homeless as I wasn’t supposed to live there). Before that lived with my Gran in another warden controlled 1 bedroom flat and I slept in a cupboard that was ~5ft by 3 ft in size, slept at an angle on foam (too small for a mattress). And I was working on a road at the time as a civil engineers assistant (carried the equipment) for £1 a hour.
If your right-wing argument is so strong why do you make BS up?
David
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go david, go david! no- seriously its so annoying when these narrow minded little geeks pop outa nowhere and start blaming their countries problems or their own misfourtunes on other people, specifcally; people not from the UK… wake the fuck up dudes;; international students and workers are here boosting the economy if anything, and many are prohibited from resource to public funds and housing, so stop blaming ur bad luck or lack of motivation on immigrants- some people are tooo afraid of change and different thingz, dash out ya old-fashioned hang ups and live a little, difference makes the world go round.
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owww shush kirsty, if u were that desperate 4 housing u could get it.. all yud av 2 say is that u and ur mum clash- exaggerate a little and u could get what u want.. some are just too afraid of lying/exaggerating.. dnt blame immigrants as u put it.. they pay 4 the socially excluded too in this country.. do ur research!!!
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I agree with the OP those like David who have always had access to Council housing and the system will never understand how unfair the system is, particularly when unemployed people continue to get social housing. Housing benefit unless you are unemployed does not cover the full rent for example I get housing benefit and it covers £240 when the rent is £1100 leaving me £870 to pay each month if I was a council tenant I would be paying half of that, it is ludicrous that working people are having to subsidise unemployed council tenant’s housing through their taxes as well as paying extortionate rents. To see a classic example of this ridiculous system that people take advantage of around the corner from me there is a council estate full of flash cars and some send their kids to private school, how can they afford this? Because we are paying their way in life for them!!!
Reply to David
Labours Housing Policy
If Labour gets in next time heaven help anybody who rents out property because it looks like they want to return to the old days when it was almost impossible to get bad tenants out,and they want to control the rent that landlords can charge.This will lead to less rental properties on the market because landlords will not put up with this government interference.I for one will be disposing of my rental property rather than being dictated to by Red Ed.
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