The Conservative government has spent the last 13 years exacerbating the housing crisis Margaret Thatcher created. We’re seeing a lack of good quality, affordable, sustainable housing being built. Our cities, towns, and villages are losing their community amenities, pubs, and shops, watching helplessly as they are turned into flats and apartments that are too expensive to help ordinary working people and their families thanks to Tory changes to permitted development rights. Our cities, towns, and villages are turning into dormitories, where there is nowhere to go and nothing to do, just housing without community, without people having the space to interact meaningfully with each other.
Shelter has recently reported that half of renters are only ‘one paycheque away’ from potentially losing their home, up from 39% in 2021. 55% of renters report seeing an increase in their rent in the past year. We are seeing rents increasing, a housing market with a lack of good quality and affordable housing, and people all over the country who will become homeless if they lose their income for even one month. It is abundantly clear that we need to challenge this inadequate and unaffordable system. We need a genuine Renters Reform Bill which will boost renters’ rights and protect families across the country, not more dither and delay from a government that is out of touch and out of ideas.
I support community-led housing. This approach is vital to designing places fit for the future and must play a leading role in solving our housing crisis so that we can have genuinely affordable homes being part of our communities. It will require legislative change to be effective and I am committed to ensuring that happens.
I grew up in a small town in North East Herts. I have contributed to our communities. I want to protect what makes our communities special. I will fight for the right housing in the right place. I will stand up for good quality, environmentally friendly, and affordable housing. I will work hard to make sure that new developments become part of our communities, not pseudo-neighbourhoods on the edge and distinct from our towns and villages.