Tenants from all over the country will be coming together to discuss the future of council
housing in the run-up to national and local elections.
It’s an opportunity to gather important information
including analysis of the Government’s self-financing proposals; and share experiences.
Lots more info here...>>
Speakers confirmed so far include: Austin Mitchell MP; Scottish Tenants Org; Shelter;
UNITE; Leeds Tenants Fed; Steve Partridge (CIH); UNISON; Neath Port Talbot DCH; Dr. Stuart Hodkinson;
Unite Against Fascism...
Full
conference programme is now available - use it to book your place, and to encourage others from your
area to go.
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Housing Minister John Healey has announced a partial moratorium on stock transfer in England.
Shamefully, despite his promise of a level playing field, he is allowing a number of
councils to continue with privatisation. They include Warrington, Oldham, Bolton, Stockton,
and Dacorum.
Full list is here..
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Despite the claims pro-transfer councils make about rent restructuring, the gap between council
and RSL rents is
getting wider.
According to the UK Housing Review, between 2001 and 2008, the difference between the average
council rent and the average RSL rent has gone up from £7.59 to £8.96 a week.
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Eight pages
make the case against transfer and for direct investment; analyse the government's new
proposals; and explain why we need new first-class, affordable, council housing with secure tenancies,
not more public-private partnerships.
A number of councils, including some with ALMOs, are shamefully still trying to privatise their
homes
(find out who's doing what).
We need to unite to fight this threat and achieve the promised sustainable future.
Distribute to tenants, trade unionists and councillors (£20 per 100 / £120 per 1000 copies).
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TENANTS VOTE NO TO PARTIAL TRANSFER
Tenants on the Ferguslie estate in Renfrewshire, Scotland, have voted NO to privatisation.
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HOUSING FINANCE REVIEW FOR WALES As we predicted, Wales is following behind England in
reviewing its system of housing finance...
if your authority is pushing transfer demand a moratorium until the review is over.
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MINISTER JOHN HEALEY LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION into
why councils are failing to reach Decent Homes.
If your council is struggling make sure they tell him it's because the government has withheld funding!
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As the Council Housing Finance Reform consultation closed, Ministers are under
growing pressure to improve the proposed financial settlement.
DCH have published their
full response
to the government's proposals to reform council housing finance. The
outline principles of the response
were agreed by tenants and trade unionists at a DCH national meeting in Birmingham on 5th September.
See also our A3 briefing - useful for leafleting meetings.
Councils are beginning to publish their responses, most highly critical of the government’s
proposals. We believe the discussion on council housing finance reform should be held out
in the open and will publicise councils' responses to the Government proposals, as they
become available. See our new
webpage.
If your council's response isn't listed there, find out what they've said and let us know.
MPs from the House of Commons Council Housing Group met Housing Minister
John Healey to urge the case for more investment. The group has issued
its own
response .
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The full report of the House of Commons Council Housing Group' inquiry
Council Housing: Time to Invest is now available.
Order copies now to make sure tenants, trade unionists and councillors in your area read the new evidence.
Discounts available for bulk orders.
Email info@support4councilhousing.org.uk to order copies.
You can access
report here or just
summary and
recommendations.
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After the
promises
in the ministerial statement, which held out hope of a funding breakthrough, the government has now published its
consultation document.
We said we would measure proposals on reform to council housing finance against our long-standing
demands - and they fall short.
The consultation document explicitly promises “a level playing field between transfer and retention”.
The promise of capital grants in excess of £6 billion to meet the backlog of outstanding works offers
real hope to those areas where tenants have refused to be blackmailed into transfer or ALMO.
But councils also need enough funding to maintain these standards, to prevent us going round the same
cycle of disrepair again: and the amount of extra money being offered for management, maintenance and major repairs in the long-term
is derisory compared to previous government and independent recommendations.
Read more...
and ask your council to cost what these proposals will actually deliver locally.
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We welcome the decision by the select committee of MPs which oversees the Communities and Local Government
department to scrutinise these proposals before the consultation ends. See their
press notice for details.
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Government also
announced on 28th June
additional funding for 3,000 new council homes, in addition to the budget funding.
A welcome step in the right direction, but it is a tiny share of the money being poured in to
subsidise private developers and lenders.
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Tenants in South Cambridgeshire have become the latest to reject transfer in a massive 72% NO on a
73% turnout. Local campaigners, demanding a moratorium on transfer, said:
"The justified euphoria of victorious tenants will not soften their equally justified anger at the scandalous
waste of money on a privatisation attempt held with total disregard for the housing finance review."
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The Budget's announcement of a fund for new council homes is a significant but very minor step towards meeting the demand for investment in council housing (see
Budget Briefing).
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A new
paper
from the Council Housing Group of MPs demands government action for a mass programme of new council house building
(read more >>).
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200 tenants, councillors, officers and trade unionists took part in the House of Commons Council Housing Group's
inquiry at Parliament on 25 Feb.
14 MPs heard verbal evidence from 27 delegations, dozens of local authorities, tenants organisations and trade unions have
submitted written evidence and many met their MPs whilst at Westminster.
Read latest DCH
newsletter, press statement
and adjournment
debate in Parliament (also 25 Feb).
Make sure your MP signs the Early Day Motion
Council House Building (EDM 355) and joins the Council Housing group at Parliament to show their support.
Delegations called for an end to the 'robbery' from tenants rents - £1.7 billion this year! They made a strong argument
that government has to stop charging tenants for 'historic debts' that should have been paid several times over from the money government
has siphoned out of council housing. Everyone agreed that rents and receipts should be ring-fenced to fund the management, maintenance,
repair and improvement of council housing although there is a debate about whether the national HRA should be maintained.
The Council Housing group intends to produce a report to submit to Housing Minister Margaret Beckett and has asked to meet Gordon Brown.
Bulk order copies from Austin Mitchell MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA (£10).
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Eight pages
make the case for direct investment and calls on government to ring-fence the national Housing Revenue Account and fully fund allowances to councils at 'level of need'.
Two ALMOs in Oldham and Warrington proposing to privatise their homes underlines the importance of re-uniting the
"council housing family" across authorities directly managing their homes and those with ALMOs to secure direct investment for all council housing.
Distribute to tenants, trade unionists and councillors (£20 per 100 / £120 per 1000 copies).
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196 council tenants, councillors and trade union delegates from 51 areas were joined by housing professionals, academics and MPs
at the DCH national conference on 25 November 2008, at the University of London Union.
Read more>> - including conference papers and slides (audio tape and report soon).
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The robbery from tenants rents is set to increase next April by £248 million to £1.83 billion.
The 'Draft Subsidy Determination'
issued by government shows that the average robbery from tenants increases from £926 to £995 whilst rents go up a massive £6.2% from April 2009.
See what it means
for your authority and get your organisation to send a formal
protest
letter (consultation deadline 9 Dec).
Read more>>.
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There's been an angry response
to the latest attack
on 'secure' tenancies from the Chartered Institute of Housing.
Housing Minister, Margaret Beckett, has now
told Parliament "I am not at all sympathetic to the notion that council housing residents should somehow lose their security of tenure."
Get your organisation to condemn the CIH proposals. Read more>>>.
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The 'Fourth Option' was debated at Labour's conference (Sept 23) for the fifth year running. The
report - underlining a commitment to finding a solution on 'Decent Homes', the HRA review and building new council housing
- was accepted despite widespread criticism that it still left key issues unresolved (see DCH
Bottom line for council housing briefing and second
leaflet).
Housing Minister Caroline Flint
told
delegates "I can confirm today, we will provide the opportunity for local authorities to access the grants necessary to build again" and promised
more talks with authorities unable to meet the government's Decent Homes target.
Read more>>
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Dozens of Constituency Labour Parties, as well as major unions, submitted amendments to Labour's National Policy Forum (July 25/26) supporting the campaign's demands.
In negotations the Minister made a significant concession.
('Major breakthrough' on fourth option').
Local authorities will now be allowed to bid directly for ‘Social Housing Grant’ to build ‘council housing’
(directly managed with ‘secure’ council tenancies). A new generation of first class council housing can now be built - and without the
risks involved with councils entering into public/private partnerships with Local Housing Companies and other Special Purpose Vehicles.
On ‘Decent Homes’ – particularly important for tenants in authorities
being bullied to accept privatisation and those who have already rejected privatisation options
but being denied improvements – there was a clear commitment to meet the standard but it was left ambiguous how this might be achieved.
Commitment to additional resources for authorities facing a funding gap is now essential.
Alongside the HRA Review (see below) these developoments reinforce the case for a complete moratorium on stock options and further privatisation until the new finance regime is agreed.
Read final wording of amendment
and separate letter of clarification.
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Tenants met with MPs at the House of Commons on 14 July to discuss our first
submission
to the government's 'Review of Council Housing Finance'.
Get your organisation to support
this paper or submit your own (hrareview@communities.gsi.gov.uk).
The meeting welcomed the LGA endorsing our key demands (see right), and agreed to hold a national conference and a
lobby of Parliament.
Join DCH to complain at government's
failure to involve tenants in the review (see
Tenant voice must be heard,
Tenants must not be sidelined,
Getting involved in the HRA review,
Channels are open for tenants to use
). Ask your council to distribute the DCH submission and 'Dear Gordon 2' pamphlet to tenants reps to
ensure they are informed.
Background: In December 2007 Housing Minister Yvette Cooper announced a
review
(now called 'Review of Council Housing Finance')
with the commitment "to ensure that we have a sustainable, long term system for financing council housing" and
"consider evidence about the need to spend on management, maintenance and repairs".
Challenge any councils doing 'stock option' or stock transfer consultations and demand a moratorium until the review reports.
Insist councils model the Minister's commitment to show tenants the alternative to privatisation.
See impact of fully funding allowances
to make council housing sustainable
Read more>>
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Organise a local protest to demand government fund improvements to all existing council housing, start building first class council homes to address housing need and commit to making council housing sustainble by stopping the robbery!
Invite tenants, trade unionists, councillors and people on the housing waiting list. Contact DCH for material and 'Fourth Option' hands.
Ask Labour Party members and affiliated unions to submit
amendments
from DCH to the Labour Party 'Partnership in Power' policy consultation.
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Tenants, trade unionists, councillors and council officers came to Parliament on January 22 and more than 20 delegations gave oral evidence to
the House of Commons Council Housing group to support amendments to the
Housing and Regeneration Bill.
Read more>>
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On Jan 16 Austin Mitchell and Alan Walter met Iain Wright, the junior Housing Minister overseeing the Bill. Discussions covered the campaign's main
concerns.
MPs Austin Mitchell, Brian Iddon, Paul Holmes and David Howarth with Alan Walter
and Eileen Short from DCH previously met Housing Minister Yvette Cooper (Oct 18) and discussed the Housing Green Paper, building new council homes,
meeting Decent Homes and the government's response to Hills and Cave.
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17 Constituency Parties submitted motions supporting the 'Fourth Option' that finally got
onto the agenda.
Council housing dominated the housing debate forcing movement in the right direction from Housing Minister
Yvette Cooper
- but not yet nearly enough (DCH responds to Labour's housing debate).
Three consecutive conferences have backed the 'Fourth Option' demands. There's plenty of 'warm words' but
we're still waiting for specific commitments. As Austin Mitchell MP put it "We haven't fought this long and hard and come this far to be fobbed off now."
Read more>>
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TUC delegates unanimously backed the 'Fourth Option' in a high profile debate on the first morning. Britain's two
biggest unions (UNITE and UNISON) both submitted
motions moved
by their respective general secretaries.
UNISON general secretary,
Dave Prentis argued "What is so wrong with councils renewing their housing stock... respecting tenants' choice?"
and said earlier "Investment to improve existing council housing and estates and to start building new first class council housing,
the clarion call of the "Fourth option" backed by Labour conference but still unimplemented, is now mission critical."
UNITE's Derek Simpson
told Congress "The housing crisis is a problem of affordability and supply. Unless we solve that problem it will be a major downer
for the labour movement...I'm pleased that council housing is back as a term in the vocabulary of Labour - it hasn't been for too
long. That is down to your efforts."
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DCH has produced an
'Interim Response' and
additional response on Local Housing Companies (15 Oct)
to the government's
Housing Green Paper
welcoming this opportunity to press the case for council housing
(see covering letter,
Compass article
and Press Archive).
Get your organisation to formally respond to the DCLG consultation endorsing DCH's
five demands.
As Jack Dromey said at the DCH conference "the devil will be in the detail".
The Green Paper directly addresses the key changes to housing finance we've all been demanding. But the solutions steer local authorities into gifting/selling council land to public/private partnerships.
The ratio of new council homes to private homes is unclear and whether they will be 'secure' tenancies charging lower council rents and directly managed by an accountable elected council.
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Gordon Brown told the UNITE (Amicus) conference
"I cannot promise to implement the fourth option on council housing today
[a demand from the Defend Council Housing group for the last six years] but what I will tell you is that councils will be allowed to build homes again." (Guardian Unlimited, 18 June)
"Mr Brown has an 'open mind' about the fourth option for council housing,
as an alternative to transfer, arm's-length management and the private finance initiative, his spokesperson said this week."
Gordon Brown also told the GMB conference 'we will give help to councils by new means through which they can build houses as well'.
And all six Labour Party Deputy Leadership candidates supported the 'Fourth Option' to enable councils to improve homes direct as an alternative to transfer, PFI and ALMOs
(Give ’em the homes millions, says Brown’s deputy (whoever that turns out to be).
Speaking at a DCH fringe meeting Nick Brown MP, a close ally of the next Prime Minister, told delegates 'Defend Council Housing has been one of the most persistent and courageous Labour movement campaigns that are currently underway and I think their time has come.'
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Camden tenants reps voted overwhelmingly against the council's latest proposals for partial transfers, demolition and sale of homes and land. A packed meeting demanded that the council actively campaign
by sponsoring a London wide conference to lobby for the 'Fourth Option' and a cross party delegation with tenants reps to meet Ministers.
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Hills launched his
Ends & Means
report with Ruth Kelly at the LSE on Feb 20. Hills said people would be disappointed if they expected him to attack a secure tenancy (although the report is more ambiguous). He
applauded the role of public housing in providing decent, affordable and secure housing in the past and recognised the need for the future.
He diplomatically said it wasn't up to him to decide on 'first, second, third or fourth options'.
Ruth Kelly seized the opportunity to raise scrapping council secure life-long tenancies, introducing means testing and bulldozing council blocks to build private housing to create more mixed communities.
These proposals have met with outrage - read
more >>
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More than 1300 tenants, trade unionists and councillors, from over 90 areas across the UK, took part in the Lobby of Parliament and rally on Feb 8 2006
(web report and
bulletin).
Delegations heard from 32 speakers, exchanged experience and lobbied their MPs.
Councils can no longer tell tenants that government policy is set in stone.
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Pages updated since your last visit 13 Mar 14:15
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Check Press Archive articles/reports
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Eight pages
of vital analysis and facts.
Order copies to distribute to tenants, trade unionists and councillors...
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to government proposals to reform council housing finance: most are critical.
See our new
webpage >>
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The first national committee meeting since the
sad death of Alan Walter
agreed to step up the work of DCH, raising the campaign's demands around the government review of council housing, locally and at
union conferences and events
over the summer.
There has been huge commitment to a collective effort to help both with the national lobbying and supporting anti-transfer campaigns locally.
If you weren't able to make the meeting but want to offer help, please let us know what you can do - email info@defendcouncilhousing.org.uk.
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Margaret Beckett finally conceded (6 March)
that government would reduce the rent increase it assumes councils will make in April from 6.2% to 3.1% - a £2 reduction.
Read DCH press statement.
This is a step in the right direction but it still leaves the 'robbery' for 2009-10 at £1.5 billion and many councils short of money
to manage, maintain, repair and improve our homes.
The 'robbery' has to stop once and for all including the scam of continuing to charge tenants to support a historic debt that should have been paid off several times over. The review must accept that every penny of our rents is spent on the management, maintenance, repair and improvement of council homes.
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'Sign up' online
here
and
print off a sign up sheet to get tenants, trade unionists, councillors and others in your area to add their names in support.
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Help step up the pressure
to secure a settlement for existing council housing and to start building a new generation of first class council homes.
DCH welcomes Brown's commitment to council housing
after the Prime Minister
promised
"Today let me be clear: if local authorities can convince us that they can deliver quickly - and cost-effectively - more of the housing that Britain needs, and if local authorities can build social housing in sustainable communities that meets the aspirations of the British people in the 21st century, then we will be prepared to give them our full backing and put aside anything that stands in their way." (29 Jan)
Read Margaret Beckett's New freedoms to increase council house building statement,
DCH response (20 Jan),
A year to remember comment
and more>>.
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Tenants met with MPs at the House of Commons to discuss a
submission
to the government's 'Review of Council Housing Finance'.
Get your organisation to support
this paper or submit your own.
Complain about government's
failure to involve tenants in the review (see
Tenant voice must be heard,
Tenants must not be sidelined,
Getting involved in the HRA review,
Channels are open for tenants to use
). Ask your council to distribute the DCH submission and 'Dear Gordon 2' pamphlet to tenants reps to
ensure they are informed.
Background: In December 2007 Housing Minister Yvette Cooper announced a
review
(now called 'Review of Council Housing Finance')
with the commitment "to ensure that we have a sustainable, long term system for financing council housing" and
"consider evidence about the need to spend on management, maintenance and repairs".
Challenge any councils doing 'stock option' or stock transfer consultations and demand a moratorium until the review reports.
Insist councils model the Minister's commitment to show tenants the alternative to privatisation.
See impact of fully funding allowances
to make council housing sustainable
Read more>>
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'Dear Gordon 2' argues Gordon Brown can't keep his promise of 3 million new homes unless he drops the dogma and invests in council housing. The
private sector is in crisis and the Local Government Association predicts council housing waiting lists will rise to 2 million
households (5 million people) by 2010.
Updating
'Dear Gordon'
(2007) the pamphlet reminds the Prime Minister that tenants, trade unions, councillors and MPs - plus three
consecutive Labour Party conferences - demand the 'Fourth Option' of direct investment in council housing. It includes
amendments
to the Labour Party draft policy document and urges Labour Party members and affiliated unions to submit them.
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Key organisations launched a
My rent went to Whitehall position paper
at the LGA conference on July 2 which endorses the key housing finance demands DCH and others have been making.
DCH is concerned that breaking up the national HRA system leaves tenants exposed to changes to interest rate, inflation and other risks and could make it easier to privatise homes.
The campaign believe that requiring government to fully fund allowances to local authorities provides a more certain and less risky solution
(Read policy statement).
We welcome a clear commitment to ring fence resources for council housing and suggest that the mechanism for distributing these
resources is looked at as a seperate issue.
Read more>>
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(The Guardian, 1st April 2008) 'Gordon Brown suffered one of the
biggest backbench revolts
since becoming prime minister last night as 28 Labour rebels backed an amendment to a housing bill calling for more resources for council house building and repair...'.
Read the transcript of the debate in Parliament;
see how MPs voted on amendments
NC1 (fair and balanced ballots) and
NC8 (HRA funding).
See Third Reading Briefing,
campaign report from the Council Housing group of MPs and
More >>
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A new government report looking at councils opting out of the national Housing Revenue Account (HRA) has identified that
"anticipated levels of future subsidy… are not sufficient to maintain a sustainable level of housing services within the HRA subsidy system."
(Self-financing of council housing services: Summary of findings of a modelling exercise, CLG, March 2008)
"We are talking about the major repairs allowance across the country being
40 per cent short of what most people would estimate is a minimum investment need over 30 years" (Steve Partridge, Housing Quality Network consultant supporting the review group, Inside Housing 14 March 2008).
Read DCH Briefing on CLG report conclusions.
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New Housing Minister Caroline Flint made her first
headline proposing council tenants apply for jobs as a condition of tenancy.
Part of the agenda is to stigmatise council housing so as to continue their drive to privatisation and counter growing demands for government to modernise existing estates and start building a new generation of council housing
(Council tenants condemn Flint's statement).
Search Press Archive) on 'Means Tetsing'.
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DCH has produced a 98 page
pamphlet
bringing together 31 articles from leading tenant activists, MPs, trade unionists, councillors and academics.
Get your organisation to bulk order (@£2.50 each) printed copies to distribute to tenants reps, councillors and trade unionists in your area.
Download
Acrobat file
or
Word file
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DCH has produced 100,000 copies of a
Welsh newspaper
sponsored by the Wales TUC, UNISON, T&G and GMB and a
Scottish newspaper
to support local campaigns against transfer.
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The House of Commons Council Housing group has produced a 40 page report documenting the evidence they gathered from their inquiry into support for the 'fourth option'.
Help make sure it is widely read by tenants, councillors and trade unionists in your area.
For more information see
website.
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summary
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full report
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Unlike local authorities we can't dip into the Housing Revenue Account and use tenants rents to campaign. DCH relies on affiliation fees, donations and sale of publications
to get the arguments across. Raise support in your tenants association, union branch, Trades Council and political party.
Download details.
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Ask your MP to sign the new
