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Camden New Journal - Letters to the Editor
Published: 15 November 2007

Heading for a crisis

• ROGER Robinson’s letter, November 8, highlights the problems caused by the Labour government’s housing policy over the last 10 years.
He doesn’t want Almos, arms-length management organisations, to run council housing.
Neither do council tenants in our area who voted against it. This government, however, tried to drive through the policy and, when it failed to do so, it turned around and refused to hand over the £283 million to council tenants for Decent Homes standard.
This was a straight-forward betrayal of principles of fairness and democratic decision making by local people.
We are heading for a housing crisis despite the government’s pledge to build an extra three million homes by 2020. The independent body set up to advise government ministers on new homes said 270,000 more were needed each year. The average property price in Camden in October this year was nearly £600,000.
There are around 15,000 people on council house waiting lists in Camden. There is a generation which has been priced out of the property market. These people will not find homes locally unless more affordable houses to buy and rent are built. What is required is a new system that gives councils the funding and freedom to provide affordable homes in a pleasant, well-serviced environment according to local needs.
If ministers are serious about tackling the housing shortage, they must stop talking about the problem and lay the groundwork for the solutions.
The government should consider handing over surplus public sector land, like Brill Place, to community land trusts in order to meet the increasing demand for affordable homes within sustainable communities. They should also support shared equity schemes that can provide affordable homes that remain affordable when sold on.
Camden Council has had meetings with the minister of housing. It has been knocked back when they have asked the government to reconsider its policy and release the money our community badly needs. I am campaigning for the government to hand over funds for housing for our community sooner rather than later.
JO SHAW
Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson
Holborn and St Pancras

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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