To suggest that a few planning measures will lead to “the biggest boost in affordable housing in a generation” as the leadership did at this year’s Labour conference calls in to question the credibility of the party’s response to the national housing crisis (Editorial, 11 October). Studies by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Shelter and University College London show that there is a need for investment in a huge programme of social housing over the next five to 10 years.
There is an urgent need for housing policies to: 1) Fund genuinely affordable housing programmes required for at least the next 10 years. 2) Introduce rent control or restrictions in the private rented sector. 3) Fund local authorities so they can fulfil their statutory duties to improve housing conditions for millions of vulnerable people. 4) Fund improvements in existing housing stock to address global warming, poverty and resultant ill health. 5) Bring building standards for new housing up to somewhere near Passivhaus standards.
