Government must deal with the deepening Housing Crisis

December 2007

The number of people coming to me as their MP with housing problems has dramatically increased in the last few years. And that is perhaps not surprising when you look at the statistics. There are now over 5,000 households on the council housing waiting list in Portsmouth and the average house price in the city is now nine times average earnings.

Last week, I highlighted these concerns – long waits for council housing, high private sector rents and the difficulty of first time buyers getting on the housing ladder – in a debate in Parliament on the Government’s Housing Bill.

It was a tragedy that councils were not allowed to use the proceeds from the Tories’ “Right to Buy” scheme to invest in new properties. Now there are just 15,000 properties, mostly smaller flats, left in council ownership in the city.

The lack of council properties and long waits mean people are often advised to rent privately. But private rents are, on average, double council rents. While those on benefits or low incomes will have most of their rent met by Housing Benefit, if people then get a job or a better paid job most of their Housing Benefit will be taken away.

But does the £14 billion paid nationally in housing benefit offer value for money? Surely, over time, that money could be better spent by investing in council housing rather than pouring it into private landlord’s pockets?

Unfortunately overall the Government’s bill is too little, too late. We need to make more houses more affordable. So, the Lib Dems have therefore proposed new idea called "equity mortgages" where people priced out of the housing market could buy homes built for a local authority at cost price. The council would retain part ownership, allowing it to control the price of the property at future sales, ensuring it remained genuinely affordable for generations.

Bad, overcrowded, housing particularly affects children’s life chances and ability to succeed at school as well as their health. But I believe a prosperous nation like us can afford decent housing for all and I will continue to be fighting for that as an MP.