Batley & Spen - Phew

If there is going to be a progressive alliance at the next general election between Labour, Greens and Lib Dems, there would need to be some consensus on key policy areas. The 3 parties are in broad agreement in terms of many areas - fairness, equality, abolish poverty, tackle climate change, support public services, fairer taxation, ethical foreign policy - and when you look at the policies often there is a lot of overlap. There are some big differences but the amount of overlap is considerable when you line up the 3 manifestos.

There is a housing crisis. Everyone can see that. House prices are out of control. Generation rent can't afford to get on the housing ladder without help from their parents. Affordable housing is rare. Public housing is minimal. Tenants have much less protection than previously. There's no imagination in housing policy in terms of building communities with integrating housing for families, the elderly and young people. Developers hold on to brown field sites with planning permission to drive up prices further. It's a mess and the Conservatives don't have a plan and anything they are planning is likely to make it worse.

When you look at the policies on housing from Labour, Greens and Lib Dems (I've cut and pasted some info below) - there are a lot of good ideas, a lot of overlap and policies that any progressive could get on board with. Imagine a coalition government with a Green Party housing minister? Would that be bad form a Labour or Lib Dem perspective?

GREEN PARTY

 The Green New Deal for housing

Green New Deal investment in housing will simultaneously reduce climate emissions, tackle fuel poverty and provide genuinely affordable housing. We will improve the insulation of every home in the UK, making sure they are all warm in winter. 

This green homes revolution will make sure nobody is forced to choose between heating or eating. Everyone should have a safe, affordable and warm place to call home. 

We will end the housing crisis by creating enough affordable homes – including 100,000 new council homes a year. 

Our plans will also ensure that all new and renovated homes meet the highest possible standards and meet social needs. Work on our homes, businesses and public buildings will create quality jobs in every part of the UK as we shift to a net zero carbon economy.

LABOUR PARTY

We will build one million new genuinely affordable homes over 10 years, and ensure every council every year builds or commissions Labour’s new affordable homes.

• Define a new ‘affordable housing’ as linked to local income, and scrap the Conservatives’ so-called ‘affordable rent’ homes priced at up to 80% of market rates
• Stop the sell-off of 50,000 social rented homes a year by suspending the right to buy, ending all conversions to ‘affordable rent’ and scrapping the Government’s plans to force councils to sell the best of their homes
• Back councils and housing associations with new funding, powers and flexibilities to build again at scale
• Transform the planning system with a new duty to deliver affordable homes, an English Sovereign Land Trust to make more land available more cheaply and an end to the ‘viability’ loophole that lets developers dodge their contribution to more affordable homes.

LIB DEMS

A Liberal Democrat government will tackle the housing crisis by ensuring that 300,000 new homes are built per year, including 100,000 social homes for rent. 

We will also establish a Rent to Own model for social housing and provide government-backed tenancy deposit loans for all first-time renters under 30.

Everyone deserves to have a safe and secure home. That's why the Liberal Democrats will tackle rogue landlords with mandatory licencing, and promote long-term lettings.

We'll tackle wasted vacant housing stock by allowing local authorities to increase council tax by up to 500% where homes are left empty for more than six months.