Priced out of areas they once called home or at worse, facing homelessness – that’s the reality for over 240,000 families in Britain.
The housing scandal has only deepened after 13 years of this government’s failures. A generation has been locked out of home ownership, dreams of moving up the housing ladder dashed, and soaring mortgage and rental costs are crippling family finances.
Quick fixes can ease some immediate pressures but are no substitute for a proper strategy to deliver affordable housebuilding, a private rental sector that people can rely on and decent social housing stock. I don’t think that’s a radical ambition – it’s just sensible politics. But it does take hard work, bold steps, and bravery, and the Government has had plenty of time and opportunity to do it.
Millions of people are now at the mercy of a collapsing private rented sector. Some boroughs are more affected than others – especially outer-London ones like Enfield. Over the last year, rent has rocketed - the biggest rise since 2012 - and relentless rises in interest rates are forcing landlords to sell up and leave the market.
In Enfield, the consequences of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s deliberate crash of the UK economy land at the doors of our civic centre. We’ve had twice as many homeless families come to us for help compared to last year. Enfield now faces an additional £20m on temporary accommodation in this year alone.
Emergency accommodation in hotels and B&Bs is expensive for the taxpayer, but the real cost is to the families whose lives are upended. The traumatic effects of homelessness can last for generations.
We’re battling other local authorities for emergency accommodation places in our own borough. We use around 2,000 private-rented sector homes for homeless people in Enfield, while another 3,000 are used by other boroughs. The crisis is so severe, there are now 166,000 homeless people in London living in temporary accommodation.
We are in the midst of both a cost of living and a housing crisis, with tenants on benefits among those hardest-hit and an ever-growing gap between the housing element of benefit payments and market rents. Local Housing Allowance rates cover the rents of just 18% of properties.
My warning is just the latest in a long line that have been sent the Government’s way. Unless it deals with the fundamental issue of housing supply, homelessness rates will accelerate.
Until this government, or a future one, gets its act together, councils are taking on more responsibility. In Enfield, we’ve set out a £1 billion housebuilding programme to invest in the homes our borough needs.
At our Meridian Water development in Edmonton, we’re building 10,000 new homes, 40% of which are affordable, and creating 6,000 jobs along the way. On our 1960s Joyce and Snell’s scheme, we’re renewing and old housing estates – demolishing 795 units and replacing it with 2,000 new homes – which 78% of people on the estate voted in favour of.
But council’s aren’t immune from inflationary building costs pressures, and we need government support to build homes. Reforming Right to Buy, so councils can keep 100% of the receipts, being able to use them flexibly with other forms of grant, freezing Public Works Loan board interest rates for councils who want to borrow to invest in affordable housing, and supporting more equity investment in developments, would all make council-led schemes more viable.
We also need to rethink where we build. Britain needs more homes, and being on the side of residents who need them means being clear that, in some areas, we have no choice but to build on the green belt. As a Council Leader for six years, I have been resolute in delivering a bold Local Plan. Addressing the crisis in housing supply and ensuring the future vibrancy and good growth in my borough, depends on it.
The local plan that Enfield Council will present later this year will show how it is possible to come up with meaningful solutions to the housing crisis. It’s one of the most important things a council can do for future generations. If it is bold enough to address the housing need, I’m sure it will be opposed by those that would rather do nothing and watch more families go through the pain of this crisis.
But do-nothing government and do-nothing politicians solve nothing and leave no legacy.
I want more homes built. Of course, we should prioritise brownfield sites for development, but councils and political leaders have a responsibility to be honest, that in most cases, brownfield alone will never be adequate. I want homes near train stations, on car parks and on the land being occupied by shabby garden centres that are historically categorised as ‘green belt’.
That’s the way to deliver the family homes with gardens and access to nature, that we all want to see. Not golf courses that damage biodiversity and are used by few. Keir Starmer was right to say we must reassess the green belt and make Labour the party of housebuilding.
Not everybody wants the same kind of flat or house, but everybody wants a home. And everybody should have the right to live in decent, affordable accommodation that gives them safety and comfort, with access to green and open spaces. Right now, for many, that’s just a pipe dream. But making that a reality, has always been one of my missions that drove me into politics.
Cllr Nesil Caliskan is leader of Enfield LBC and LGA Labour Leader
