UNISON is backing an alternative Queen’s Speech that outline proposals on how the new government can fix the housing crisis and give people a fair housing deal.
Families are still struggling to find anywhere decent and affordable to live, due to the acute shortage of affordable homes and social housing at rents that people can afford.
Spiralling house prices and rents mean that many people, particularly young people, cannot afford a decent home to rent or buy. The government needs to fund a new public housing programme to ensure provision of affordable and social housing homes for people on low incomes.
That is why UNISON is backing the proposals, drawn up by campaign group Generation Rent, which call for:
- a fair deal for renters and effective regulation in the private rented sector;
- the cost of building new homes to be reduced;
- the building of genuinely affordable homes.
The proposals also call for a new position of Secretary of State for Housing, protections for tenants when their landlord wants to sell and a system of rent control and tax on landlords that would raise money for a public house-building programme.
UNISON is encouraging members, particularly young members, to email the party leaders, urging them to adopt and start to implement the proposals for housing.
The union is working in partnership with the TUC, Generation Rent and other unions to campaign for effective regulation in the private rented sector and for a significant increase in all types of housing, particularly social housing, to tackle the crisis and meet the needs of a young generationunable to afford a decent home to rent or buy.
A Queen’s Speech for Housing – what the new government can do to end the housing crisis [PDF}
