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| Photo by Errasti |
These proposals are proving to be unpalatable even to Cameron's Lib Dem coalition partners as this story suggests.
Carol's letter is reproduced below.
David Cameron's proposal to introduce fixed term tenancies for social housing tenants will do nothing to resolve the severe housing crisis currently affecting most of Britain, it will simply make it worse; and as for increasing social mobility, it will increase the division in wealth and security between those that have property and those that have not.
Were his proposals to be implemented, a stream of people judged to be undeserving of a home at an affordable rent will be forced on to the private market. Private landlords will inevitably take advantage of the massive increase in demand by increasing still further the already unaffordable market rents.
We will return to the days of the rogue landlords providing hugely expensive, substandard accommodation in an unregulated environment, ready to evict anyone who dares to complain. The sole beneficiaries will be the buy-to-let investors who have been feeling the pinch in these lean times.
The inevitable flurry in residential property investment will result in a further increase in house prices. This may make the middle-aged, middle-classes, rub their hands with glee as they see their net-worth spiral ever upwards without their having to lift a finger, but what about their children, trying to find that route to social mobility but already straining under the burden of student debt and terrified by the prospect of sky-high rents or unmanageable mortgages?
These are increasingly amongst the people who are looking to council provision as a solution, and why not? Don't we have a moral obligation as a society to provide everyone with the basic human right to shelter without making a profit in the process?
The other obvious outcome of Cameron's proposals is that, with only the worst off being able to access social housing our estates will become ghettos of deprivation, rife with complex social problems that will have to be addressed by someone at great cost.
Shelter has responded to Cameron's suggestions by quite rightly pointing out that the big question in housing policy is not security of tenure but the desperate shortage of social housing. Defend Council Housing are right when they say 'Overcrowding, homelessness and affordability are not the fault of council tenants. To solve them we need a new generation of first class public housing.' That is the issue that needs to be addressed for the good of us all.
Burying your head in the sand and penalising future tenants does not sound like 'a Big Society', it sounds like 'no such thing as society' and it needs to be stopped.
Yours Sincerely
Carol Hayton
Horsham