Britain

From Mark Langabeer (Hastings and Rye Labour member)

This will be my last letter for 2024. Christmas is usually a time when people seek good will to all. There is the famous story of when the killing fields of WW1 stopped and troops from opposing armies fraternised on Christmas Day. The pop group, Wizard, had a song called, ‘ I wish it could be Christmas  every day’, and that is an example of the spirit of most people during the festive season.

Victoria Derbyshire, a Newsnight presenter, reported on  the plight of a 28 year old, called Daisy who was sleeping on the streets in Jan 2020. Derbyshire had asked her a number of questions. Daisy stated that all she wanted was a home of her own. She wanted a government that cared. Newsnight stated that there are 4780 rough sleepers in London. This has gone up by 18% since last year.

Derbyshire went back to the place where she had met Daisy. It was near the financial centre, one of the richest places on earth in the sixth richest country. She was unable to locate her, or find out her current situation . There were interviews with other homeless people and the charity, Home Reach. They home around 20 people and try to get them permanent accommodation with local authorities and the private rented sector. 

A Home Reach worker believed that rough sleeping had increased because of the cost of living crisis and the cost of renting a property in London. Newsnight pointed out that rough sleeping had increased under the Tories. Only during the COVID crisis did the number fall . The trend has gone back up since then . It was reported that local government has had a 40% cut in real terms since 2010 and over 153,000 are living in temporary accommodation in England.

National disgrace

The current Labour Government spokesperson has described this situation as a national disgrace and Labour are increasing the budget for homelessness by £230 million for the financial year 2025/26. Whether the injection of cash provides sufficient resources to solve the housing crisis remains to be seen. 

Labour’s plan to build one and half million homes during the next five years is a laudable aim. However, there is a shortage of building workers and as the Government want to reduce immigration, in the short term at least, these targets are unlikely to be met. There is also the issue of land hoarding by developers because the cost of land has been  driven up due to the demand for more homes. There appears to be no policies in dealing with this problem.

The aim to reduce planning objections could also prove problematic. In my view, Labour need to bring the major building contractors into public ownership because it’s in their financial interest to restrict the supply of affordable housing. Labour need to build council housing at rents that are affordable.

The COVID crisis showed that cutting the number of rough sleepers is possible. If there is the political will, then there is certainly a way. There’s never a problem when it comes to supporting wars. It’s time that Labour declared war on poverty. It should be a right that every person has a roof over their heads and not a privilege .