We have been providing information on the Labour Leadership candidates’ views on housing. Jeremy Corbyn MP replied to a London LHG questionnaire and we published his responses last week. Yesterday we published the housing section of Andy Burnham MP‘s manifesto. We are publishing contributions made to the latest Labour Housing Group newsletter from Yvette Cooper MP (yesterday’s blog) and Liz Kendall MP (below).
We hope this helps members and supporters who put housing high on their list of key issues to make up their mind about who to support.
“The lack of decent, affordable housing is a longstanding challenge that must now be addressed.”
Statement on housing by Liz Kendall
Housing is a huge issue in my constituency and across the country.
For people in their 20s or 30s, the prospect of ever being able to afford to buy their own place seems like a pipe dream, even if they’re working really hard. Many young people are still living at home with their parents or struggling to save for a deposit because of the cost of their monthly rent.
Families face real problems, too. Parents often ask for my help because they’ve got mould or damp in their homes that’s causing breathing problems for their young children, or because of overcrowding, which can make it difficult for children to concentrate.
I’ve also helped countless disabled people and their relatives who have been unfairly hit by the bedroom tax – which we must reverse.
The lack of decent, affordable housing is a longstanding challenge that must now be addressed.
We need to build more homes, but we must also improve the way the private rented sector works. In England, over two million children now live in privately rented accommodation. And the number of families in the private rented sector has a knock on impact on the housing benefit bill.
Nearly five million people rely on housing benefit today, and in the last parliament £95 out of every £100 spent by the government went into housing benefit, with just 5% going to bricks and mortar. The next Labour government must begin to reverse that.
Liz Kendall MP
(first published in the Labour Housing Group newsletter @LabourHousing)