Open letter after consultation on the draft charter

Firstly, thank you so much to all those who commented on the housing charter, I really appreciate your making the time to do so. The input received has helped to shape this final version - Caroline Lucas Housing Charter.pdf. I’ve kept it to four pages but I have a note of all comments, so even if your specific point isn’t referred to, all contributions have and will prove very useful to my ongoing housing policy work.  As well as adding to the charter following the consultation, I also wanted to write this open letter to provide an overview of some of the main themes that emerged from the consultation responses I received.

BETTER QUALITY IN THE PRIVATE RENTED SECTOR

For the first section of the charter, “better quality in the private rented sector”, as well as ensuring that the charter reflects concerns raised by renters across constituency, I’ve been keen to ensure that it reflects findings of the University of Sussex students’ union’s “Rate Your Landlord” report. Students in Brighton and Hove are committed to an area that’s already one of the most expensive places to live in the UK. On top of that, rents are rising rapidly. Recommendations in the 2014 student survey share my concern to regulate and license property managers as a way of ensuring that students and people across the private rented sector have some protection from poor practice.

The 2014 student survey found a growing disparity between letting agents and landlords over standards of customer service and the provision of services, with students saying that landlords almost always exhibit better practice than letting agents on these issues. As such, my charter’s second proposal – regulation of letting agents – is essential.

As a final point on this section, I was pleased to hear that last November’s meeting of the Housing Committee at Brighton & Hove City Council approved further support for an ethical letting agency, which is the charter’s fourth proposal to bring better quality in the private rented sector.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

This second section has resonated for many people who commented on the charter. This isn’t surprising given that renting is expensive while owning is out of the question for many people, as the mean house price in Brighton Pavilion has now reached 10.5 times the mean salary.

Brighton and Hove’s Living Rent campaign is leading local debate on this issue. I was delighted to speak at the campaign’s launch event and will continue to liaise with the campaign to ensure that people who work in Brighton and Hove and have family and community links with the city can afford to actually live here.  Their input has underscored the need to tackle sky-high and ever-increasing rents.  I put the issue of wages and rents – the cost of living overall – to the Prime Minister in Parliament, asking how he expected hospitals like the Royal Sussex to recruit enough nurses if they can’t afford to live in the area. He didn’t have an answer to my question, saying instead that he’d never come across a Green party politician in favour of building houses – if I had the chance, I would have referred him to my top proposal under “Enough housing”!

It was shameful that Cameron did not to engage with the fact that many people are struggling to meet even the most essential of costs. In the charter I propose the establishment of a Living Rent Commission: the importance of such a commission was underscored by findings in a Joseph Rowntree Foundation report that the rate of increase in private rents relative to income may lead to 45–50 per cent of private tenants living in poverty by 2040. The report found that if social rents were to move towards 65 per cent of market levels, an additional 1.3–1.5 million people could be placed in poverty by 2040.

The final proposal in this section of the charter, that there should be strong energy efficiency standards to tackle high energy bills and fuel poverty, has been reinforced by further research published since the draft charter. This shows that the economic benefits of ending fuel poverty are so substantial that a Government energy efficiency strategy would pay for itself. As a result, the Energy Bill Revolution campaign (of which I’m a Parliamentary Champion) is calling on all parties to commit to a scheme that would make the homes of all six million low-income families energy efficient, reaching at least the level named in the charter - Band C on an Energy Performance Certificate. As a more immediate approach to tackling high energy bills and fuel poverty, I’ve worked with Brighton & Hove Energy Services Co-operative and with National Energy Action to put in place a series of energy advice sessions across the constituency this winter - do get in touch if you’d like more info.

SECURE HOUSING IN THE PRIVATE RENTED SECTOR

A number of constituents got in touch about the first proposal regarding stable renting, with some raising concerns about what would happen if they only wanted to rent on a very temporary basis. This is addressed by the proposal, as the five-year term stated would be the legal default rather than the only option but I’ve re-worded the clause to make this more explicit.

In the “Other measures” point in this section, feedback from advice agencies has confirmed that the charter is on the right track in calling for reform of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) to take account of actual housing costs. Research last April by the Central Sussex YMCA found that of 207 adverts for single rooms that were advertised in Brighton and Hove only 14 fell under the LHA rates. Out of those 14, two were short term lets: just one month and unspecified “short term let only”. Three others were for students only and two of these required large deposits. Another said it would not accept people on benefits. This left eight properties. Out of these eight, two were definitely through agencies and likely to have agency fees, the other six were unknown. One was for a 25 year old female only.

To enhance the security of renters I’ve also added a point under “Other measures” calling for the abolition of Section 21 – a clause in housing law that’s often referred to as allowing “revenge evictions” because Section 21 notices have followed on from tenants raising concern about a property’s poor state of repair. Problems with Section 21 have been put to me in surgeries and by advice workers at the Brighton & Hove Unwaged, Advice and Rights Centre. Abolition of Section 21 has long been Green Party policy and was before Parliament last November – it wasn’t passed on that occasion but I will continue to fight for an end to “revenge evictions”.

ENOUGH HOUSING

The case for more house-building remains irrefutable. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation research referred to above noted that to contain poverty rates, housing supply must increase substantially above the levels attained before the recession. The charity Shelter has said that not only do we need to be building more homes, there needs to be a more balanced mix within this. At present there’s a year on year shortfall in social housing.

Similarly, the case to end outrageous and damaging Right to Buy discounts remains strong. Several constituents referred to the article in the Independent on 1st November reporting on the scandal that local authorities are seeing their council houses sold off under the Government’s inflated discount scheme, only to be rented out to tenants who need housing benefit at far higher rates – benefits that go directly to landlords’ pockets. The Government’s scheme boosting the exploitation of social housing for personal profit and the lack of investment for Councils to build leaves local authorities facing a disastrous further erosion of their housing stock. Brighton and Hove Green Councillors have also called for an end to the Right to Buy, saying it results in fewer low-rent homes, forcing those on low pay out of the city.

Following on from the release of the draft charter I was invited to visit Rosa Bridge Housing Co-op, where I heard more about measures that could support co-operative housing projects. Nationally, there is more interest in co-operative housing than at any point in the last 40 years and I look forward to working with Rosa Bridge to ensure full support for housing solutions that incorporate mutuality.

The final version of the housing charter is published with this blog post. I’ll now send it to Housing Minister Brandon Lewis and will use it as a steer for my Parliamentary work.

Please keep sending me your thoughts on housing though and do email me if you’d like to be kept in touch with updates on my housing work.

Best wishes

Caroline