Housing, which was covered by the Communities policy commission, is now incorporated within the Housing, Local Government and Transport Policy Commission. It has met three times between February and April. Given the breadth of this remit, there appear to only have been a limited focus on housing issues. According to the annual report, concern about […]
Posts under ‘Housing’
After the Grenfell fire
Jul 13th, 2017 by Nathan Akehurst.Before “We need good costs for Cllr Feilding-Mellen and the planner tomorrow at 8.45am!” In July 2014, this chillingly innocuous-looking email was sent from a project manager to a cost consultant in respect of a refurbishment project. The consultant, Artelia, duly replied with a range of options, including reduced costs for overcladding as part of […]
Share:
What does inequality look like?
Jul 3rd, 2017 by Bryan Gould.What does inequality look like? In a society where the gap between rich and poor has widened significantly, what evidence of that gap would one expect to see? A dramatic and painful answer to that question was provided to us this week with the shocking image of the burning London tower block. If we ever […]
Share:
Economic dogma, George Osborne and Grenfell Tower
Jun 27th, 2017 by Ann Pettifor.What has the horror at Grenfell Tower to do with economists? And what have the lives lost at Grenfell Tower to do with the government’s budget deficit? A great deal, I will argue here. When on Twitter a few days ago I raised the issue of the shared responsibility that economists have for this ghastly […]
Share:
The Grenfell tragedy is class war
Jun 19th, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.The victims of yesterday’s fire at the Grenfell tower in north Kensington are casualties of the class war. There is no other frame, no other explanation that can convincingly thread together the answers to questions about how this unnecessary and entirely avoidable tragedy happened, and why it was allowed to happen.
Share:
Ten shocking facts about the Grenfell Tower fire
Jun 15th, 2017 by Nikhil Venkatesh.Britain was shocked yesterday at the sight of Grenfell Tower, a block of flats that housed as many as 600 people in West London, engulfed by flames in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Since the fire, a number of shocking facts have become apparent, and Theresa May has called for a public enquiry
Share:
Why the Tories’ White Paper will do nothing to solve the housing crisis
Feb 9th, 2017 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Housing is a major sticking point for the Tories. They know it, we know it, and the public know it too. On their watch, first with their LibDem friends and now alone with a majority thinner than a major donor’s tax return, the bottom fell out of the house building figures. Cash strapped councils made poorer by […]
Share:
John McDonnell on the leadership battle
Jul 1st, 2016 by John McDonnell.This talk was given by John McDonnell on Wednesday 29 June at a Stand Up for Labour event in the George IV pub in Chiswick, West London. The transcript has been lightly edited to account for the difference between spoken and written language but the content is unchanged. Let me just tell you where we’re […]
Share:
Winning elections and the leaseholder vote
Apr 7th, 2016 by Dermot Mckibbin.Leasehold tenure is unique to England and Wales. Nearly all of the English speaking world have moved away from this feudal relic. The housing problems of leaseholders are seldom discussed within Labour party circles. It was not mentioned in the 2015 Labour Party manifesto. Nor has the Housing and Planning Bill currently before Parliament addressed […]
Share:
Can you afford the Tory housing crisis?
Jan 14th, 2016 by Grahame Morris.An entire generation rent has been failed. The aspiration of home ownership is no longer an option for many and has been replaced with a difficult struggle to find properties with affordable rents. Since the Tories came to power in 2010, there are over 200,000 fewer home-owning households, with home ownership falling to its lowest levels […]
