The two big ideas in housing in the last half of the 20th century were the new town movement arising from the second world war, and the massive council housing sale of the 1980s. Labour’s fortunes were closely tied to both movements. After the war, a successful Labour party was in tune with the aspirations of displaced and poorly-housed working-class families; by the 1980s, a failing Labour party opposed the aspirations of the same families to buy their own homes.
Labour cannot again turn its back on the aspirations of this important group and has to learn from the radicalism of the past. Currently, the Labour government relies on developers and mainly Tory councils to provide low-cost and social housing, yet neither is very interested in providing decent housing at an affordable price for ordinary families.
We must again give low-income families the opportunity to dream about the future. Instead of waiting decades for new housing estates to be finished, people should be involved from the start. A mixture of families could be generated from the housing list, plus young couples and single people, all of whom would be offered the opportunity to build their own homes in a new community that they would help shape. The opportunity to build a new home from scratch would be matched by a responsibility to contribute to planning the new community.
How to do it? Create a land cooperative outside the local council and identify pockets of land that councils are sitting on; make sure there’s an organisation similar to the new town development corporations to champion their cause and sidestep unimaginative town hall bureaucrats. Insist individual house designs meet high eco standards and use building materials and techniques that mean the houses are still habitable in 2050. Give the fledgling community the powers to negotiate transport, schools, public buildings, shops and so on to prevent councils from using funding elsewhere or developers arguing for extra houses to be built instead of community facilities. Use the same mix of funding we have now – rent, part-rent-part-buy, fully buy at an affordable price – but involve everyone from the start. Include self-build for some to help cut their costs.
It needs audacious action to kick-start the housing market as well as motivating low- income families to get off their backsides to create their own family home and their own community. It’s time Labour challenged the working class again.
Forgive me if I am wrong! But weren’t the building programmes following the second world war honouring a promise to improve social housing, rebuild and re-energisethe economy, by creating building programmes to re employ the masses of men returning from intensely violent war fronts (rehabilitating them in the process). These projects were followed by the relacement of slums, building highrise flats to house the poor. Which by the Nineteen Eighties were being pulled down as they had proved a failure, to be replaced by housing. Unfortunately the culture of an underclass had already been created. Which was not improved by the replacement warrens, hence the problems now being experienced in most modern towns. To avoid the development of ghetto’s, problem families were reocated in established towns and villages with the intention of changing behaviour patterns.
Unfortunately again this failed.
The sell off of council housing stock to tenants was a good idea in principle as ownership fed social standing and independance. While in most cases this worked. People gained a sense of empowerment. The policies of the eighties to freeze the monies gained from sales and not reinvest in social housing further eroded our society and community. As mixed estates fell into disrepute, then came the great idea to sell of the remaining social housing stocks to private enterprise on practically a handshake. Now we see houses boarded up waiting until it is not economically viable to repair them, while more of the population have to rely on others or live on the streets.
A scheme as suggested will be taken up by middle income earners, who will seize on the opportunity to build their own communities and further isolate those who are classed as non econonic contributers.
Release those funds which were frozen from the council house sales, re establish the social housing programmes as the model following WW2 proved. Re employ the masses and regenerate the economy by creating work and reinvigerate the manufacturing base in the country. Give the councils greater incomes to work with the incomes generated by social housing and rebuild communities by not trying to nanny them or lump individual cultures together, to encourage greater diversity and tollerance within communities.