Dear Member,
A
tale of two towns – Croydon’s housing crisis is London’s social
time bomb
Under the Tory Government and London’s Tory Mayor, social housing building is at its lowest level for a decade. There’s an urgent need for a “One Nation” housing programme for Croydon.
Under the Tory Government and London’s Tory Mayor, social housing building is at its lowest level for a decade. There’s an urgent need for a “One Nation” housing programme for Croydon.
The
supply of decent social homes for rent is now so limited that even
low-income families living in dire circumstances are unlikely to
qualify. There’s
7,880 families on Croydon Council’s waiting list.
But we believe that another 5,000 could be on the list if Croydon’s
Conservative-run council had not dropped them off the list as low
priority.
The
recent report by BBC’s Newsnight
described Croydon Council’s failures on housing the homeless as “an
indictment of modern Britain”.
Conservative Croydon Council is now infamous for keeping families
with young children in cramped, sub-standard bed and breakfast
accommodation for more than six weeks, the maximum period allowed by
law. And what was shown on television was a long way short of the
worst examples that the BBC producers found in our borough.
In
Croydon, even long-serving Conservative councillors are trying to
pass the blame for the housing crisis they have created to the “posh
boys” in the Tory-run Government. Under this Conservative
Government, there’s been a
17 per cent increase in the number of families losing their homes.
Rents
in private sector in London soaring by six-times the rate of
inflation
Even
for those in London on middle to higher incomes, home ownership is an
increasingly distant dream: housing charity Shelter says that the
average first-time buyer, who gets no help from the Bank of Mum &
Dad, now has to rent for 31 years in order to buy their own home in
London, costing them £300,000 in private sector rent in the process.
With
the Tories abandoning the homeless and the need to provide social
housing, those left in the “bulging middle” of society are left
with one option – the private rented sector, where rents
soared by 12 per cent last year alone.
Yet
more than one-third of homes in the private rental sector do not meet
standards for a decent homes. Tenants are often exposed to rogue
landlords, short-term tenancies and a lack of stability.
Government
figures show that the number of these homes built in London has
fallen every year since Boris Johnson’s election as London Mayor in
2008. In Croydon North it is clear to see ever more houses being
converted into flats, and flats being converted in smaller bedsits,
under the pressure of growing population, falling incomes and
increasingly out of control exploitative private rented sector.
Without
a Labour Government and Labour council, increasingly Croydon will
become a tale of two towns. It’s a social time bomb. With more
families in desperately cramped and expensive housing, often forced
to make frequent moves, children will be unsettled and underachieve
at school, the health of families will suffer and the next
generation’s life chances slip backwards.
Housing
is the clearest and most dangerous dividing line in our community. We
need to set the agenda for tackling the housing crisis for the whole
community in Croydon, and not just for the benefit of property
developers’ annual profits. We need social homes for the low-paid,
affordable homes for those starting their families, and Co-operative
schemes for middle income families.
I
look forward to working together with you in the best interests of
the people of Croydon,
Val Shawcross AM CBE
BBC Newsnight on Croydon Council
