ROOF Blog archive

THOUGHT it all ended with that Zidane headbutt? Check out the Homeless World Cup, which reaches its final stages today and tomorrow in South Africa. An amazing 500 players from 48 countries are taking part.

UPDATE: Russia pipped Kazakhstan in the final

ANOTHER YEAR, another conference defeat for the Labour leadership by delegates calling for a fourth option for council housing. In a debate yesterday communities secretary Ruth Kelly told delegates the plan was ‘unaffordable’. But in the result of a card vote announced today, delegates voted 2-1 for a resolution arguing that ‘a Labour government cannot leave council tenants who have rejected privatisation without improvements’.

Who should have the final say on planning applications and housing funding in London? It seems a simple question but the answer is developing into a spat between the mayor, Ken Livingstone, and the London boroughs represented by the Association of London Government (ALG) that could have a major impact on affordable homes in the capital.

Ever since the abolition of the GLC the decisions have been made in Whitehall but in August communities secretary Ruth Kelly announced consultation on devolving powers to Livingstone and the Greater London Authority.

Not fair, says the ALG in a campaign against the new powers it calls ‘not only controversial’ but ‘a real threat to local democracy’. Yesterday it also claimed the support of Londoners in a new poll.

Nonsense, says Ken. Since when is devolution anti-democratic? Oh, and what about this letter from the leader of the ALG Labour group backing the transfer of housing powers.

This morning’s Independent is well worth a look for this interview with Mr Yvette Cooper (aka Ed Balls). Answering a series of questions from readers, the economic secretary to the Treasury rises above the usual bland soundbites with some domestic details and even the odd joke.

He also fends off a couple of questions from readers on housing. First he defends the Bank of England against the charge that it failed to stop the house price bubble. Then he faces a real bouncer: ‘What do you think about the prohibitive cost of housing and the huge wealth gulf it’s created? And why the governments only answer is ridiculous shared ownership schemes which boost house prices and make the problem even worse?’

His reply? ‘The housing minister (and dropper of wet towels) says the only way to deal with long term house prices is to build far more homes for the next generation. But in the meantime it’s only fair to help first time buyers get a foot on the housing ladder.’

In the interests of political balance, see Boris Johnson’s take on the difficulties faced by the Cooper-Ballses in their West Yorkshire constituencies.

Half of all working households under 40 in the south of England cannot afford to buy even the cheapest home on offer, says a report today by the New Policy Institute for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The new Housing and Neighbourhoods Monitor measures the government’s performance against its targets.

The verdict? The quality of housing has got better. But repossessions have doubled since 2003, output of new affordable homes is half what it was ten years ago, and the number of homeless households in temporary accommodation has more than doubled since 1997.

Go here for the Today Programme report, which includes an interview with housing minister Yvette Cooper. Hear her call for more housebuilding, attack the Tories for opposing it and get interrogated about her boss’s alleged nimbyism.

Society Guardian has a housing pull-out today ahead coinciding with this week’s National Housing Federation annual conference.

Features include an interview with housing minister Yvette Cooper in which she says the next big challenge is to tackle overcrowding plus a Q&A with John Hills on the upcoming review of social housing.

Want a bet that we’ll ever pay the Lib Dems’ new environmental taxes? Thought not. Ming Campbell’s victory today at the party conference is not going to lead to a slump in sales of Chelsea Tractors any time soon. But it’s important nonetheless: the Lib Dems may be part of a coalition government in just two years’ time and its policy debates mirror those in other parties.

What’s this all got to do with housing? Quite a lot if you scratch beneath the surface of the debate over scrapping the 50 per cent tax rate for high earners. The policy document proposes a series of changes to Britain’s absurd system of property taxation:

• Scrapping the council tax in favour of local income tax
• A property tax not yet specified but perhaps based on the Danish system of a 1 per cent national property tax with a threshhold below which it is not payable
• Reforming stamp duty to remove the slab system under which the rate escalates dramatically at £250,000 and £500,000

The policy paper does leave plenty of wriggle room but at least it kicks off the debate.