After years of campaigning by the Defend Council Housing campaign and after securing overwhelming support at successive Labour Party conferences hopes were raised that the Government would at long last bring forward a housing bill which would tackle the housing crisis which has seen the number of homeless families double under New Labour since 1997.
The Labour Party conference policy is straightforward. It is the Fourth Option, allowing councils to access funds in the same way as housing associations so that councils can start building council houses again. This would enable us to launch the large scale housing programme that is desperately needed if we are to overcome the severe housing shortage which is causing such immense homelessness, overcrowding and the return of Rackman-like landlordism under the buy to let regime introduced by Gordon Brown.
Last night whilst many eyes were focussed on the latest party donations scandal the Housing Bill was debated in Parliament. The Government launched the Bill with a fanfare of claims announcing that we are to build 3 million new homes. Gordon Brown said in June "Councils will be able to build homes again."
This now looks as though it was just spin again. Our hopes have been dashed by the publication of the Government's new Bill. The Defend Council Housing Campaign has explained that the Bill means the Government will continue to discriminate against councils building new homes while offering public money to profit making private companies with little protection to either tenants or taxpayers. Profit making private landlords will be able to apply for social housing grants while councils cannot unless they set up arms length companies. At the same time councils will be pressurised to put public land into public/private partnerships that will build private not council housing. A new definition is also introduced for low cost housing which introduces for the first time in our history a means test for access to council housing.
Last night the Bill secured its second reading in the Commons only on the basis that backbench Labour MPs would be bringing forward amendments to the Bill which would reflect Labour party policy of supporting the Fourth option. The DCH campaign will be mobilising support in the Labour party, the trade unions, housing and tenants organisatiosn for the campaign to amend this bill, including a lobby of Parliament in the New Year. We all need urgently to get behind this campaign before it is too late and public housing is totally privatised. For further info look at the DCH website www.defendcouncilhousing.org.uk
8 Comments:
29 November 2007
"Citigroup deal highlights US banking crisis"
"On Monday, US banking giant Citigroup announced a deal with Abu Dhabi to secure a $7.5 billion cash infusion. The arrangement is intended to shore up the bank’s financing amidst an ongoing credit crisis, but the desperate character of the deal is an indication of the deep crisis facing American capitalism"
"Certain basic measurements of the bank’s financial health have fallen sharply in recent months—in particular its capital ratio, representing the amount of assets the bank has relative to its liabilities. To provide a temporary bandage for this problem, the bank arranged the deal with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), a state institution of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates"...
http://tinyurl.com/yox4y7
"Blue Dog Democrats: Conservative, Or Just Plain Corrupt?"
"The Blue Dogs say they oppose Miller’s initiative out of concern for the integrity of the 2005 Bankruptcy Bill-a telling justification. Under that odious law, millionaires can shield their mansions from creditors, and corporate executives (think: Enron guys) can prevent ripped-off shareholders and employees from seizing their holdings. Harvard’s Elizabeth Warren notes that the law also “permits people with vacation homes and investment property to rework their mortgages in bankruptcy.”
"But regular homeowners? Sorry-without Miller’s legislation, judges are barred from defending you against the vultures"...
http://tinyurl.com/2th3bn
A thoughtful and well written article I came across...
"Trumpeting a credit crisis when larceny is the culprit"
20-11-07
"It isn’t a credit crisis we are living through, but a two-decade larceny crisis. Instead of authoring “The Age of Turbulence,” Alan Greenspan should have opted for his very own confession, calling it “The Age of Larceny.”"...
http://tinyurl.com/28jofh
"Stealing a Nation 1of6 - Diego Garcia"...
Part 1...
http://tinyurl.com/2e7ab9
Part 2...
http://tinyurl.com/262prn
Part 3...
http://tinyurl.com/26a2zf
Part 4...
http://tinyurl.com/ywzjjs
Part 5...
http://tinyurl.com/23wgxx
Part 6...
http://tinyurl.com/2cjw2z
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