{"id":16939,"date":"2019-01-09T14:26:06","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T14:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=16939"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:57:49","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:57:49","slug":"3m-council-homes-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=16939","title":{"rendered":"3m more council homes needed"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

E<\/span>ngland needs to embark on the biggest council <\/span>house <\/span>building programme in its history if millions of people are to avoid living in unsuitable, cramped or dangerous homes, <\/span>a cross-party commission has warned the government. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The year-long <\/span>commission<\/span><\/a>, launched following the <\/span>Grenfell Tower<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/span>disaster, told the government that 3m new homes for social rent need to be built <\/span>over<\/span> the next 20 years if England\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s housing needs are to be met. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Its commissioners included former Labour leader Ed Miliband, <\/span>former <\/span>Conservative<\/span> treasury minister and Goldman Sachs chief economist Lord Jim O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Neill<\/span> and<\/span> former Conservative party chair Sayeeda Warsi. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The programme proposed by the commission, <\/span>set up<\/span> by the housing charity Shelter, <\/span>would offer council homes to millions of families who do not qualify under the present system<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Under the <\/span>current government <\/span>housebuilding in England <\/span>has dropped to around 130,000 a year \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the lowest level since the Second World War and far below the <\/span>Tories target of 300,000<\/span> homes<\/span> a year. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Severe<\/i><\/b> housing<\/i><\/b> crisis<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

As a result <\/span>England is facing a<\/span> severe<\/span> housing<\/span><\/a> crisis, with almost 280,000 people homeless<\/span>,<\/span> low income renters spending an average of 67 per cent of their wages on rent<\/span> and half of all young people <\/span>permanently prevented from<\/span> getting their foot on the housing ladder. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ed Miliband said, <\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe time for the government to act is now<\/span>. <\/span>We have never felt so divided as a nation, but building social homes is a priority for people right across our country. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015b<\/span>It is the way we can restore hope, build strong communities and fix the broken housing market so that we can meet the needs and aspirations of millions of people.<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail <\/span>welcomed the proposals, saying that the only way to tackle the housing crisis and <\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u015b<\/span>the ass<\/span>ociated misery it bring millions of individuals and families\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 is to build more council housing. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cartmail said, <\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u015b<\/span>We all know someone paying extortionate rents or who are forced to reside in substandard and dilapidated accommodation or live in fear of losing their homes because they are denied a long-term tenancy. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015b<\/span>Genuinely affordable, decent housing is a pipe dream for hundreds of thousands on waiting lists and out of reach completely for the countr<\/span>y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <\/span>young generation.<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Common<\/i><\/b> sense<\/i><\/b> and<\/i><\/b> decency<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Cartmail added<\/span> that<\/span> the plans speak to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcommon sense and decency\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 but that the Tories will never adopt them. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Conservatives equate housing with markets and money, rather than what it actually is: <\/span>A basic human right<\/span><\/a>. We won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t change the attitude of the present government in regards to the purpose of housing, so we need to change the government. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015b<\/span>Only Labour c<\/span>an<\/span> deliver the bold and ambitious change needed to end the housing crisis and get our country building again.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s national officer for housing Siobhan <\/span>Endean<\/span> highlighted the economic benefits of large scale council house building programmes.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said, <\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs well as creating economic benefits by lowering housing costs and increasing individual spending power, our research shows that for every \u00c2\u01411 spent on building houses an extra \u00c2\u01412.09 is generated in the economy. Every \u00c2\u01411 spent on housing construction also brings a 56p return to the treasury.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

England needs to embark on the biggest council house building programme in its history if millions of people are to avoid living in unsuitable, cramped or dangerous homes, a cross-party commission has warned the government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[109,568,175],"wps_subtitle":"England needs to build 3m council homes by 2040 govt told","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16939"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16939"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25644,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16939\/revisions\/25644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}