The Housing Situation

Citizens and comrades I want to start with some figures. Over Eighteen thousand, million pounds, that is eighteen followed by nine zeros, an enormous amount of money is lost to the country by people stashing away their money in off shore tax havens. UK gas producers and electricity generators may make excess profits totalling £170 billion over two years. The number of millionaires increased substantially in 2020/1 mainly as a result of rises in the stock market and house prices. When we talk about figures like these we are accused of being greedy or envious as though the rich are superior to the rest of us and deserve their wealth. For my part One reason why I do not do the lottery is because I would hate to win a large amount of money. How could I watch the Gills and feel,part of the crowd when I no longer shared the same living standard of those around me. I quote these because the Government keeps telling us that they cannot afford the reasonable demands that working people are making. The money is there, it is just in the wrong hands. When I was a young lad, the war had just ended. One of the major changes was the development of the large council estates. For the first time working people had a decent quality of housing. Look at the Twydall estate. See how well it was designed with open space, shops, schools, pubs, places of worship. All needs were met. But people living on council estates also met abuse and prejudice. The attempt was made by the elite elements of society to denigrate council tenants. Council estates were a threat to the ruling class. They gave a level of security to working class people and demonstrated that they had a right to enjoy good living conditions. The ruling class want workers to be dependent and so less able to act fir themselves. Thatcher came up with the solution. She talked of a property owning democracy and destroyed council housing by enabling people to buy their homes and so become tied to mortgages. There was a time when Property, as it is now known, was not known. People, at different levels in society, had a right to use the land, but they did not own it. This changed when the nobles realised they could make more money from sheep than from peasants. They enclosed the land and forced the peasants into the towns and cities. But this was not the only roots of capitalism. At the same time they found they could make money by taking African workers to the Caribbean and North America to work on the plantations. As they made wage slaves in Britain they made the Africans into property to be owned and sold as slaves. These were the basis of the system that now governs our lives. I wanted to set the background to our present demonstration. To show that it is not for lack of money, nor because the present situation was inevitable, but it was because of political decisions made that a minority of people within society should prosper at the expense of the many. Let’s bring the discussion to the present situation. Let’s begin with those who can afford to buy their own home. 750 000 of these, that is three quarters of a million people are in danger of defaulting on their mortgages. That is not a figure from the Socialist Worker but a headline in the Daily Telegraph. If you have a son or daughter or a granddaughter or grandson you will know the problems they face. If they are not living at home with their parents they are paying enormous rents. Many of them are earning enough to buy a house, their mortgage would be less than their rent, but the deposits required are beyond them. They cannot pay their rent and save for a deposit. I read of one girl who committed suicide, she was paying £900 a month in rent. Leading banks and housing groups advise that rental payments should not exceed 30 per cent of a person's annual salary, saying those paying above the threshold should consider moving or face being unable to save money each month. Many areas of the country are unaffordable for nurse some nurses in London face spending more than half their salary on rent This applies to other groups including police, teachers and other service workers large corporations are now building blocks of flats for rent. But, as an example, z of the 45 000 new homes in the Manchester city-regional centre only 471 are “affordable” the city’s residential boom has been dominated by private sector market rental housing. 20% of new units are supposed to be affordable. Developers are clearly not contributing to these targets. the UK government and councils have helped this build-to-rent market The government made a £1 billion of funds available to investors between 2012 and 2016 to underwrite their projects, as well as making it easier for them to get planning permission thanks to the 2018 National Planning Policy Framework But what of that neglected, but very significant group, who cannot even consider buying a home. Those on low wages, minimum wages, zero hour contracts or in others ways struggling to cope with the rising costs which affect them more than any other group. There is no one speaking out for them. The average increase in rent in 2022 was just over 12%, pushing more and more private tenants into homelessness. Councils in England helped more than 278,000 households to prevent or relieve homelessness between April 2021 and March 2022. That’s 16 per cent higher than the previous year but 9 per cent down on pre-Covid level That refers to known cases but not to the hidden problems known only to those affected. This demonstration was called by Medway Trades Union Council in conjunction with Medway Enough is Enough. These are small groups of people seeking to defend working class people. What history has shown us is that when people combine together that can change things. We need everyone to join with us in challenging the existing system and demand that things change. Our appeal is for you to join us. Sign our sheets, commit yourself to action and help us create a working class force that unites everyone in the struggle to reform transform and revolutionise society Solidarity Comrades