The ultimate in affordable housing is almshouses. I was a trustee of an almshouses charity a few years ago. They tick all the boxes – the homes are held in perpetuity (without the right to buy removing assets from the portfolio), and residents have a long-term solution provided in line with local housing allowances. It has been tried and tested for a thousand years. Let’s see Labour support almshouses in every settlement.
Community Land Trusts offer another solution, putting power in the hands of communities.
Social housing is desperately needed. Only this week I saw a plea for help on a local social media account from someone who is seeking a rental property but struggling to find one due to being on benefits. Another, with two children, commented saying they had the same problem.
Not only would social housing provide a safe roof over every head, it would bring enormous benefits to the economy. Research from Shelter and the National Housing Federation in February this year shows that building 90,000 social rented homes would add £51.2bn to the economy and support almost 140,000 jobs.
I wish decision-makers would listen. The study found that within just three years the programme would break even, with wider economic costs surpassing the upfront costs of building.
We need Starmer to use his grey matter and rise above glib “grey belt” labels to look at who is in desperate need of housing, and set out how he will meet it. We must not sacrifice our green belt for investors, or invent new names for parts of it.
We should stick with the brownfield label, and ensure that brownfield land – except in circumstances where it has become a rich habitat – becomes the initial default for housing.
Brownfield first, infrastructure first, affordable first: but with clear plans for how it will be delivered.
