Green Party MP Siân Berry (pictured) has urged Labour to fund councils to “buy the supply” of housing from landlords, arguing it can boost social housing quickly and reduce reliance on “expensive private rent”.
In a letter published by the Guardian, the MP for Brighton Pavilion says: “My heart obviously breaks for distressed buy-to-let landlords,” before setting out a proposal she describes as “tailor-made” to help them if they are “feeling the pinch”.
Berry believes councils should be given funding to increase the number of homes they can buy into their housing supply, including “buying back right to buy homes”, or “snapping up suitable houses that are put on the market”.
“Immediate, construction-risk-free social homes close to existing schools, parks and health services and provides a faster route than relying on the existing sluggish model of finding land and building new apartments”.
She says this could deliver “immediate, construction-risk-free social homes” close to existing “schools, parks and health services”, and provides a faster route than relying on “the existing sluggish model of finding land and building new apartments”.
Too small
Berry argues that many new-build homes are “too small for families”, while demand for council housing grows. She highlights that “more than 169,000 children live in temporary accommodation in England”, which she says is “harming their whole lives, including their health, happiness and ability to learn.”
She adds that “buying the supply” is “a faster, good-value supplement to building”, and says landlords could take advantage of “a soft landing” from a properly funded council acquisition programme, rather than “gently” hiking rents. Their “newly burdensome cash cow”, she says, should become “someone’s longed-for home.”
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