Could a bigger housing offer be on Labour’s agenda for 2015?

Ed Miliband has already made two pledges on housing – that 200,000 homes a year will be built by 2020, and that action will be taken on the length and cost of private sector tenancies. Both have received broad support from across the party. But could Labour go further than this ahead of the election?

Next month the Labour Party National Policy Forum takes place in Milton Keynes – and the priorities for affiliates and groups within the party are becoming clearer.

Earlier this week at their annual Congress, the GMB released a report calling on Labour to build 250,000 homes a year – including 80,000 council homes. Research released by the union indicated that average house prices are now 6.3 average wages for full time workers in living in England and Wales and are 5.8 times average earnings in Scotland. All far from healthy multiples when it comes to securing a mortgage – but nothing compared to London, where the average house costs 13 times the average salary. General Secretary Paul Kenny told delegates:

“An incoming Labour Government from 2015 will need to make affordable housing a central part of its economic and social strategy. Some of the strategic and institutional changes will take time to put into full effect but the intention needs to be clear from the start with an immediate emergency programme and legislative action from the first session of the new Parliament.”

In particular, the union are calling for:

• All Housing Policy and resources for England focussed in one Whitehall Department
• A long Term Plan to switch over 20 year Government support from Housing Benefit to New Build and improvement
• Establishment of City Region level Housing Delivery Bodies with equivalent bodies in Devolved Administrations and for Rural Housing
• And a switching of spending and priorities from housing benefits to house building

A desire to see more done on housing is shared by many groups within the party – but it’s interesting to see the GMB focussing so much on this with the crucial NPF just a few weeks away.

Ed Miliband is speaking at GMB Congress in Nottingham tomorrow. We’re expecting that housing is going to come up…