It’s crunch time for Starmer and Reeves: either build social housing or lose the next election | John Harris

I They are used to a scene that was repeated in different places throughout the United Kingdom. Near the city or city center, there will be a construction project, focusing on delivering new apartments. The air will be filled with the loud stun of the machines. The offer that has been completed in a hurry may be presented with a glimpse of what will come.

I have developed an unexpected addiction to these places, and always photographing items that hide construction work from passers -by, which are usually characterized by thirty of euphoria that drink coffee and relaxation in high -end home environments (usually accompanied by slogans such as “living, work, relaxation, dream”). I expected a kind of meetings that go directly to one of our biggest national problems. It will go on a member of the audience, looks physically to what is ongoing. Their words may differ, but the basic message is always the same: “Who is this for? Not me.”

in The last issue1.3 million families in England were on housing waiting lists for the local authority, the highest number since 2014. 164,000 children Living in temporary accommodations. Recently increasing the average lease in the private sector Set the record From 9.2 %. The numbers just released Through the home builders federation, it appears that the number of new homes that were given the approval of planning in England in the first quarter of 2025 was the lowest since 2012, which is partly blamed for the absence of any government support plan for buyers for the first time. The home market that individuals can buy remains as a password for exclusion and impossibility, which is why these new residential blocks are always a reliable symbol for anger and frustration.

The same anger has long been leaked to our policy. Fifteen years ago, I can remember clearly Submit reports from the London Parking region and Daaginham About chronic housing problems caused by Collective sale of the council homesThe toxic policy in the region. A 60 -year -old bakery told me about her daughter, who lived with her four -year -old son in an apartment rented from the private sector filled with a pigeon’s deviations that apparently chronicly ill. They were on the waiting list. She told me: “But every time, it is, like, No. 200 or 300.”

She and her husband would vote for the new British National Party. At that time, I felt as if what I was seeing was still sitting on the outer edge of the policy. But these days, the same basic story had acquired the heart of the national conversation: it was chased in BNP in unrelated color and protest now collectively UK reformThe relationship between the housing crisis and the state of fever for political policy is clear. Certainly, it is impossible to realize the importance of immigration without appreciating the feelings of many people about the scarcity of homes.

In the inner circles of the Kiir Starmer government, there should be sounds that are very aware of the need to finally address all this. Some of the correct instincts were clear in the work of the Labor Party to supervise the construction 1.5m new houses In England by the end of this parliament. The advisor recently reiterated the goal of delivery “The largest batch In social housing at reasonable prices in one generation.

The watch falls loudly to the spending of spending for this week. At the end of last week, the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Bornham, addressed an event that was presented by the progressive pressure group, and said Rachel Reeves must have.Opening public lands In order to use the mayors to build a new generation of the council’s homes at a pace – closer to the campaign of the work after the war. ” He appealed to housing societies With the consultant to redress social homes as a critical infrastructure (a category covering the basics such as food, energy and “data”), which would allow increased financing in its financial rules. Meanwhile, Angela Rainer-Minister responsible for housing, who is said to be strongly linked to the dream of social housing-appears to be in extensive negotiations at the last minute with the treasury.

Although the budget that was unveiled in March contains an additional 2 billion pounds of the government’s reasonable houses program in 2026-27, He said her advertising materials This was just a “introduction batch [sic] … before more long -term investment in social housing and affordable prices planned this year. ” It is said that Rainer pays the simple truth The goal of 1.5 meters is at all doubtful will be missed without much higher financing. We will see what is happening on Wednesday, but it seems that housing has come out of government messages. Recently, Reeves and Sarmer appears to believe that investments in defense and public transport are much higher than the shelter that can be relied upon.

There is a vital point in the heart of this issue. Even if Starmer has often gave the impression that the answer to the housing crisis lies in the statement of the Planning Law and allowing companies developers to do the work, Cul-De-SACS will not provide on the path of the episode anything like the solution. Social housing – which, on the required scale, must be the responsibility of the councils to a large extent – not only what millions of British people need as an issue of urgency; It will be greatly revived if the government wants to achieve its goals: 1.5 million homes in one parliament equivalent to 300,000 a year. It was the last time that this feat In 1977When about half of all new buildings were delivered by the local authorities.

It will not be easy to realize a new version of that story. Threadbare councils in any state that play the role in reviving the housing they need. The UK also faces a terrible construction skills crisis: despite the government’s plans to train 60,000 new construction workers, Those familiar with the industry insist We will only build what is required with the help of building workers from abroad. But failure should not be an option: it will not only deepen the social decline of this country, but also enhance the malicious forces on the difficult right, and it offers a major obstacle to the Labor Party that has any opportunity to win the upcoming elections.

In the midst of the competition last year, I went to AldarshotThe old town of Al -Hamida in the center of an electoral circle won by the Labor Party from the Conservative Party over 17 points. The major buildings used by generals and specialties were full of luxury apartments, and the city center was widespread with empty stores. There, I encountered a new development called UnionWho was on his way to finish. It contains 128 “units” of student, 82 properties for private rent, and only 18 are classified as “reasonable prices” (which, in line with one of the finest sides in the housing policy, means that it will not allow more than 80 % of the local market rent), allocated to people over the age of 55 years.

It was not long before, the waiting list for the Houses of the Council in the surrounding province of Hambashire It has reached 30,000. On Tuesday afternoon, she sat in the face of high life images that decorate the external edges of development, and a long conversation with a woman in the twenties was full of a mixture of sadness and anger. I knew what you’ve said, and he greatly came out literally: “Who is this for the sake?”