Green Party local election launch: time to unlock policies that will create hundreds of thousands of affordable homes

The Green Party of England and Wales launches its local election campaign in Bristol today with a pledge to support councils to massively increase their supply of affordable housing.

Co-leader Carla Denyer, who is standing as MP candidate in Bristol Central, said:

“This country faces an acute housing crisis. There are over a million households on council waiting lists [1]. In England the average home for sale now costs more than 8 times the annual average household earnings [2].”

“We desperately need a massive increase in the supply of affordable social housing. I hear regularly from people who have been living in unacceptable conditions, crying out for a secure home or struggling to make ends meet because their rents are through the roof.”

“Councils have a vital role to play but they need a framework that supports them to provide the homes that people desperately need. We need to unlock the policies that will make hundreds of thousands of extra council homes available – for good. We also need a fair deal for the millions of people renting in the private sector.”

The policies the Green Party would introduce to help councils increase the supply of affordable housing include:

Providing funding to councils to meet their needs for affordable social housing and lift the overly restrictive rules on council borrowing for housebuilding – ensuring at least an extra 150,000 council homes a year are made available through a mix of new build, refurbishment, conversions and buying up existing homes
Ending Right to Buy, enabling local authorities to keep council homes available and affordable in the community for good
Taming the private rental market through rent controls, in places where the rental market is overheated, to ensure a fair rent, as well as ending no-fault evictions.
Creating a ‘community right to buy’, giving councils, housing associations and community housing groups first refusal to buy certain properties that come onto the market, including former social housing bought under Right to Buy; properties in need of energy efficiency improvements; or any property left empty for an unacceptably long time.

Co-leader Adrian Ramsay, who is standing as parliamentary candidate for Waveney Valley – the area where Greens won a majority on Mid Suffolk District Council last year, added:

“Whilst our housing crisis is one of supply, it is also a crisis of housing quality, and homes too often being built with a view to developers’ profits rather than community needs.”

“That’s why our Right Homes, Right Place, Right Price charter [3] would transform the planning system to ensure all new homes are built to the highest environmental standards, prioritising brownfield sites, while requiring all new developments come with investment in local services, such as extra school and GP places, better bus services and infrastructure for walking and cycling. [1]”

The Green Party are launching its local election campaign in Bristol. Co-leader Carla Denyer said:

“The Green Party has built up a head of steam in Bristol. We are aiming for a record number of seats in the city and believe we could emerge as the largest party and leading the next administration.”

“We go into these local elections with around 760 councillors on nearly 170 Councils in both urban and rural settings, and Greens already a governing party in 10% of all councils in England and Wales.”

Bristol’s Green Councillors have worked hard in opposition to improve housing in the city, Greens pushed the council to become the first local authority to introduce an ethical lettings charter, and recently put forward a motion to maximise housing supply from existing homes [4,5].

Cllr Tony Dyer, who worked on these measures, said:

“Our policies include increasing affordable housing targets, campaigning for rent controls, making sure the thousands of homes with planning permission are built and setting up an arm’s length housing company to rent out council-owned housing.”

“While the housing waitlist continues to grow, Bristol Labour takes credit for the thousands of homes built by the private sector. While refusing to take responsibility for the 5,000 homes left empty by the private sector. [6]”