Threat to your home

Published: 13 August, 2010

• BEFORE May’s elections we feared the worst about the Conservatives’ housing policies if they got into power. And now, our fears are starting to come true. 

It started with the vicious proposal to arbitrarily cap housing benefit for private sector tenants. The caps were proposed without any regard for the devastating effect they would have on families in Islington and other inner-London boroughs. Hundreds of families could face eviction, with children uprooted and changing schools as they are forced to move to cheaper areas outside London.

The government fails to realise that what Islington families on low and modest incomes need are decent, affordable and secure homes.

And so, having threatened private sector tenants last month, the government has now moved on to social tenants by threatening security of tenure.

Its proposals are misguided and wrong. It is wrong to say that if families earn a bit more they could lose the security of a decent home. The private sector is permanently out of reach for many people in Islington. Social housing offers vital security for people who can never afford to buy here. 

What message does it send out if the Tories threaten people with losing their home every five years through means-testing? Presumably, these new insecure tenancies would apply to people who transfer – sending out the message that if you want to move, say to relieve overcrowding, you also lose security?

We believe the answer to Islington’s housing crisis is more investment in affordable and secure family housing. 

The Tory-Liberal government is making our task harder as it articulates a vision for housing in Islington that we reject.

But despite the cuts from the government we will keep fighting for more family council and housing association homes in Islington so that people on low and modest incomes can afford to live here securely in a decent home. 

CLLR JAMES MURRAY 
Labour executive member for housing