I have sent you a copy of the report from Shelter over the affordable housing crisis that calls for action as social housing builds decline. The report, building for our future: a vision for social housing, recommends the government invests in a major 20-year housebuilding programme, which would offer a social home to millions who fail to qualify under the current system, including:
* 1.27m homes for those in greatest housing need – homeless households, those living with a disability or long-term illness, or living in very poor conditions.
* 1.17m homes for ‘trapped renters’ – younger families who cannot afford to buy and face a lifetime and insecure private renting.
* 690,000 homes for older private renters – people over 55 struggling with high housing costs and insecurity beyond retirement.
Former Treasury Minister Lord Jim O’Neill is one of the commissioners. He said: “There needs to be a profound shift to see social housing as a national asset like any other infrastructure. A home is the foundation of individual success in life, and public housebuilding can be the foundation of national success. It is the only hope the government has of hitting its 300,000 homes a year target.
The government’s budget for capital expenditure is £62bn a year – our housebuilding programme would cost only a fraction and is well within its financial reach. With current spending on housing benefit shockingly inefficient, it’s not hard to see what an investment in bricks and mortar could do to help solve the housing crisis and boost our economy.”
The Leader will be aware the reference and numbers of 'trapped renters' is causing profound worries and distress to very large numbers of Medway residents and relates directly to the number of households on the Medway housing waiting list. Medway Council is well aware, but not taking any action, knowing the private sector is not building anywhere near the required number of affordable houses needed for Medway’s increasing population. That mortgage costs of the cheapest properties are beyond the reach of the majority of people earning local salaries and housing developers are aiming their advertisement directly at London commuter markets with no homes for local people. The large housing developers are making grotesque profits, not putting in place necessary infrastructure and just walking away from local community problems and health inequalities they have directly created and leaving the lives of local people far worse. The Peninsula and other rural areas in Medway are examples where the developers are leaving the lives of local people far worse.
The actual capital investment by housing developers is in real terms minuscule and Medway Council is being held to ransom by large housing developers saying if they do not make sufficient profit they will just walk away and not build homes to meet Medway’s 37,000 new housing target, increasing monthly by the government. I believe that Medway Council is not blocking every legal loophole used by developers to prevent sufficient numbers of affordable housing being built for the hard-working people living in Medway who are providing essential services on minimum wages including blue light services, nurses, local residents providing social care for increasing ageing population, local industry and retail shops employees, residents on nil hour contracts and those supporting the many small businesses in Medway earning minimum wages that are celebrated by the Leader as the backbone of Medway businesses and important for the local economy. Additionally, Medway also has also severe pressures from house owners near universities who are telling residents paying low affordable rents to leave so that properties can be converted into profitable student bedsits with rent guaranteed by student parents and supporting high market rents.
Can the Leader confirm he will be writing to all the MPs in Medway and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government confirming actions to be taken by Medway Council over the projected serious affordable housing crisis and additional social homes needed in Medway for households which currently fail to qualify for the reasons set against the 3 million additional homes programme headings identified in the Shelter report. It is assumed that the Local Plan will also address these housing crisis issues and one of the actions and solutions submitted in writing to Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government will be asking that Medway Council Private Housing Company be allowed to borrow money against Medway Council assets to build sufficient affordable homes for local people including the additional social homes for three group headings identified in the Shelter report. Such action would allow Medway Council to be seen as a bold leader in not viewing affordable housing and local homes for local people as a commodity that creates a housing crisis and social division, but as a human right that balances social and local community stability in Medway?
Minutes:
“I have sent you a copy of the report from Shelter over the affordable housing crisis that calls for action as social housing builds decline. The report, building for our future: a vision for social housing, recommends the government invests in a major 20-year housebuilding programme, which would offer a social home to millions who fail to qualify under the current system, including:
· 1.27m homes for those in greatest housing need – homeless households, those living with a disability or long-term illness, or living in very poor conditions.
· 1.17m homes for ‘trapped renters’ – younger families who cannot afford to buy and face a lifetime and insecure private renting.
· 690,000 homes for older private renters – people over 55 struggling with high housing costs and insecurity beyond retirement.
Former Treasury Minister Lord Jim O’Neill is one of the commissioners. He said: “There needs to be a profound shift to see social housing as a national asset like any other infrastructure. A home is the foundation of individual success in life, and public housebuilding can be the foundation of national success. It is the only hope the government has of hitting its 300,000 homes a year target.
The government’s budget for capital expenditure is £62bn a year – our housebuilding programme would cost only a fraction and is well within its financial reach. With current spending on housing benefit shockingly inefficient, it’s not hard to see what an investment in bricks and mortar could do to help solve the housing crisis and boost our economy.”
The Leader will be aware the reference and numbers of 'trapped renters' is causing profound worries and distress to very large numbers of Medway residents and relates directly to the number of households on the Medway housing waiting list. Medway Council is well aware, but not taking any action, knowing the private sector is not building anywhere near the required number of affordable houses needed for Medway’s increasing population. That mortgage costs of the cheapest properties are beyond the reach of the majority of people earning local salaries and housing developers are aiming their advertisement directly at London commuter markets with no homes for local people. The large housing developers are making grotesque profits, not putting in place necessary infrastructure and just walking away from local community problems and health inequalities they have directly created and leaving the lives of local people far worse. The Peninsula and other rural areas in Medway are examples where the developers are leaving the lives of local people far worse.
The actual capital investment by housing developers is in real terms minuscule and Medway Council is being held to ransom by large housing developers saying if they do not make sufficient profit they will just walk away and not build homes to meet Medway’s 37,000 new housing target, increasing monthly by the government. I believe that Medway Council is not blocking every legal loophole used by developers to prevent sufficient numbers of affordable housing being built for the hard-working people living in Medway who are providing essential services on minimum wages including blue light services, nurses, local residents providing social care for increasing ageing population, local industry and retail shops employees, residents on nil hour contracts and those supporting the many small businesses in Medway earning minimum wages that are celebrated by the Leader as the backbone of Medway businesses and important for the local economy. Additionally, Medway also has also severe pressures from house owners near universities who are telling residents paying low affordable rents to leave so that properties can be converted into profitable student bedsits with rent guaranteed by student parents and supporting high market rents.
Can the Leader confirm he will be writing to all the MPs in Medway and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government confirming actions to be taken by Medway Council over the projected serious affordable housing crisis and additional social homes needed in Medway for households which currently fail to qualify for the reasons set against the 3 million additional homes programme headings identified in the Shelter report. It is assumed that the Local Plan will also address these housing crisis issues and one of the actions and solutions submitted in writing to Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government will be asking that Medway Council Private Housing Company be allowed to borrow money against Medway Council assets to build sufficient affordable homes for local people including the additional social homes for three group headings identified in the Shelter report. Such action would allow Medway Council to be seen as a bold leader in not viewing affordable housing and local homes for local people as a commodity that creates a housing crisis and social division, but as a human right that balances social and local community stability in Medway?”
Councillor Jarrett thanked Councillor Freshwater for his question. He stated that the Council was continually working to understand the housing needs of Medway residents and would offer support where it was able to. He stated that the report that Councillor Freshwater had mentioned provided a view of the national challenges around housing, some of which were present in Medway. Implementation of the recommendations would require national changes to funding and policy, which the Council would continue to monitor.
He stated that, locally, a needs analysis had been undertaken to identify the number of affordable homes that Medway required and the actions that the Council would take, which were set out in the housing and homelessness prevention strategies. He stated that the Council recognised that the current demand for affordable housing outstripped the existing supply which was why the Council continually worked with developers, social housing providers and private landlords to generate supply.
He also stated that the policy for Medway Development Company (MDC), agreed by Cabinet, was that it would be commissioned to deliver residential property, in Medway’s town centres and elsewhere, to make a revenue return for the Council. In so doing, MDC would deliver affordable units within the Council’s affordable housing policy and later this year work would start on the first 369 units.