- Conference
- 2016 National Delegate Conference
- Date
- 1 January 2016
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that the UK faces an acute housing shortage, particularly in the South East of England, but also impacting in a significant way on many other parts of the country. This has led to rising housing costs which are unaffordable to many, leading to both housing and social problems:
1) House prices in the South East are the highest outside of London. Average homes cost £312,242, nearly 11 times the average salary;
2) Across the UK fewer affordable homes, such as social homes, are being built at a time when housing demand far outstrips supply; this is fuelling house prices which are set to rise by an average of 6% nationally;
3) There is a lack of genuinely affordable housing. Tens of thousands of households live in overcrowded accommodation. Thousands of families are housed in temporary accommodation;
4) It is estimated that there were 310,000 first-time buyers last year in England, down 0.5% on the previous year, and the average first-time buyers’ deposit rose 13% to £32,929 in 2015. More people, particularly the young, are housed in the private rented sector, where rents have soared;
5) The supply shortage and housing demand have led to rising private rents. In 2015 rents increased by 4.9% to an average of £739 a month across the nation. The South East witnessed some of the biggest rent rises: the average cost of renting is now £864 a month in some parts of the region, this far outstrips local earnings. The alarming rise in rents shows how some private buy-to-let landlords are cashing in from rental properties at a time when social housing is in decline;
6) The sell off of council homes under the Right to Buy, the lack of new social homes being built to replace them; rising private rents; and cuts to welfare benefits have led to an increasing number of people on average incomes struggling to find a decent affordable home to live. This is resulting in increased rent arrears, overcrowding, financial hardship, social cleansing of families out of high value property areas into insecure private renting, and homelessness;
7) In the South East there are about 10,021 homeless households. In England thousands of new applications for homelessness were accepted last year than at any time since 2008;
8) Single women, particularly those from low and middle income brackets, are among the worst affected with many women being forced into shared accommodation. For women who are escaping abusive relationships this can be particularly traumatic, as they may feel unsafe sharing a property with strangers; at risk of further abuse if forced to share with people they do not know, or are housed where the partners of their house sharers are able to access the property.
9) Young people are most affected by the housing crisis; many of them have been pushed into private renting because of the shortage of housing, particularly social housing, the high costs of homeownership, housing benefit cuts and lack of employment opportunities. They are being robbed of a stable and secure home life due to the poor housing conditions of private accommodation and insecure tenancies.
10) The high cost of housing is contributing to public service staff shortages in key areas.
The Tory government’s response to the housing crisis in England is to introduce a controversial Bill in parliament which focuses on boosting homeownership at the expense of providing genuinely affordable homes that the majority of people need. Measures include the Starter Homes for sale policy, which will be funded by cutting the provision of low cost social housing, and the extension of the Right to Buy to housing association tenants, which will be paid for by forcing councils to sell off high value vacant council homes.
The reforms, together with plans to end lifetime tenancies and force some social housing tenants to pay market rents, attacks social housing. They will take funding away from social housing and will result in even fewer affordable rented homes for people on average incomes, deepening the housing crisis across all regions of the country.
Conference welcomes the widespread opposition to the Housing and Planning Bill which has included two national demonstrations, lobbies of Parliament and many local activities. This opposition has helped create the atmosphere in which the Lords voted to amend many aspects of the Bill on for example Starter Homes and Pay To Stay and to bring together coalitions of tenants, housing campaigners and others determined to defeat the Bill and resist many of its’ worst provisions should they be carried. Conference recognises that UNISON members are affected as tenants and as housing workers and that UNISON must be in the forefront of continuing to challenge and resist the provisions of the Bill whilst acting within UNISON’s rules and procedures.
Conference believes that public policy should ensure that we all live in good quality and affordable homes. We note with concern the negative trends in the housing situation of people in England across the various forms of housing tenure:
a) Social housing has been plunged into financial crisis by the Chancellor’s change to funding arrangements announced in July 2015. Housing Associations and local authorities with retained council housing stand to lose some £9.7billion in rental income. At least 25,000 planned new-build social homes are now unlikely to be built with some commentators predicting the longer term consequences could be ten times that. Funding cuts will make it yet harder for local authorities to retain and add to their council house stock. Social landlords are cutting hundreds of jobs, losing the capacity for effective management and maintenance of a large-scale social housing stock;
b) Osborne is making us more reliant on the private rented sector. There are now more people in private rented accommodation than in social housing and it is private landlords who are the main recipients of housing benefit. The average private rent in England is now £816 per month, some 40% higher than the average social rent. The private rented sector is characterised by high rents, very variable quality and inadequate tenant rights;
c) Mortgage-holders are generally nervous of job loss or interest rate increases. Persistently low wage levels mean that few households feel secure in their ability to pay mortgages, while many people in full-time work have insufficient income or savings to buy a home.
Conference believes that the solution to unaffordable housing is higher wages and more homes, not cheaper credit or selling off social housing stock. Conference therefore opposes the government’s help-to-buy or right-to-buy schemes.
Conference calls on the UK Government to:
i) Invest in a public sector led house building programme, which will create homes, jobs, lower housing costs and improve the availability, accessibility and affordability of housing;
ii) Commit to the development of new social homes at below market rent which are affordable to people on average incomes;
iii) Reform welfare benefits, including an end to the bedroom tax and the lifting of welfare caps;
iv) Stop the Right to Buy across the whole of the UK in line with Scotland to safeguard social housing stock for current and future generations;
v) Regulate the Private Rented Sector by introducing stronger rent controls and better regulation to drive up standards, strengthen tenants’ rights and conditions by making private renting more accessible, affordable, decent and secure;
vi) Provide adequate financial support for the young and vulnerable to help them with housing costs and to combat homelessness and social problems.
Conference calls on the National Executive Council to oppose the Tory Government’s Housing Bill in its entirety and work with service groups to establish ways for housing workers to influence and be involved with housing campaigns and policy between Conferences.
Conference further calls on the National Executive Council to work with campaigns opposing the Bill such as Defend Council Housing and Kill the Housing Bill as well as other trade unions.
Conference resolves to:
A) Campaign for the following objectives in public policy around housing:
I) A large and well-funded stock of social housing that provides secure tenancies and good quality homes;
II) Better regulation of the private rented sector;
III) Better and more secure jobs to allow people to be able to afford to rent or buy a good home;
IV) More affordable homes to be built;
V) More accessible housing for people with disabilities.
B) Work to promote these objectives with organisations that seek to promote social and council housing provision and tenants’ rights.
