‘You are all the same’ is a trope which slips easily off the tongue for many voters, frustrated at a political class which seems distant, and an economy which does not deliver for them.
But in north London, there is a stark contrast which amply illustrates the real differences between Labour and Tories on the ground.
As we celebrate the best in social housing through the Guardian’s #housingday initiative, news comes from Barnet which speaks volumes about the values of the Tories who run the council and their attitudes to providing homes for all.
As Barnet Labour has exposed, on 1st December the Tory administration launches a consultation on its draft housing strategy which seeks to set council rents for existing tenants and current empty council homes that are re-let at either local housing allowance levels or 80 per cent of average market rents whichever is lower.
The council is also proposing to charge 80 per cent of average market rents for all new council homes it builds.
This is in line with the coalition’s reform to allow social landlord to charge anything up to 80 per cent of the market average. Already this policy, together with the rising costs of renting, has rendered the term ’affordable housing’ is an oxymoron.
That is why, on the other side of Hampstead Heath, Labour-run Camden council has already foresworn its council rent levels going anywhere near the 80 per cent level. We increasingly talk of social housing, as opposed to affordable housing, for residents on low pay and claiming in-work benefits, as an affordable level of rent can be anything but.
Furthermore, Camden is building more council homes than any other authority: in the last year, one in 20 council houses built nationwide was being built by the borough.
Andrew Dismore, Labour’s GLA member for Barnet and Camden, points out that Barnet’s high private rents has driven a massive increase of those forced to claim benefit just to keep a roof over the heads.
Dismore observes that ‘Even before they impose their 80 per cent of the open market rent rate, Barnet Conservatives’ high rents already mean 11,374 Barnet working families – a 71 per cent increase since 2010 – now have to claim housing benefit.’
Furthermore, Dismore argues that, after only a year of operation, 618 households in Barnet were trapped by the bedroom tax and 62 per cent ended up in rent arrears. Barnet in housing is already in crisis; hiking up council rents to unaffordable ‘affordable’ levels will only exacerbate problems.
It is clear that Barnet’s Tories are doing this not simply because it fits their Thatcherite temperament, but that they clearly feel that there will be a long-term political gain for them in making it impossible for ordinary working families to live in the borough.
Here is where we come back to the clear political differences. Labour’s vision for London is one of a mixed city, vibrant in its diversity, not a place where only the wealthiest can afford to live.
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Mike Katz is a former Camden councillor and chair of Camden Labour Group. Sign Barnet Labour’s petition against the council rent hike here
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