Homes for living in

Published: 12 November, 2010

• THE proposed changes to housing benefit are driven by ideology and greed.

We all know that the Tories are the party of the landlord and these proposed changes are a blatant attempt to drive ‘market rents’ even higher. Rents have been artificially inflated, bearing little relationship to the cost of providing and maintaining housing. Just for the record, social housing rents are not subsidised.

There is a powerful case to be made for a form of rent control, a return to fair rents and the rent officer, to bringing “market rents” into line with costs rather than the rents providing a livelihood for the investor. Homes are for living in; they should not be someone else’s nest egg.

JESSICA SKIPPON
Chair Covent Garden 
Housing Co-op