Composite 10 passed at the 2006 Labour Party Conference read….

“…. Conference reminds government of the clear 2005 manifesto commitment "By 2010 we will ensure that all social tenants benefit from a decent, warm home with modern facilities."


A Labour government cannot leave council tenants who have rejected privatisation without improvements.


Conference believes that decent, affordable, secure and accountable council housing can make an important contribution to tackling growing housing need and that there is strong support amongst council tenants, elected councillors, trade unions and MPs for direct investment to improve existing council homes and estates as well as enabling local authorities to build new council homes.


Conference re-affirms the decisions of the 2004 and 2005 party conferences and our commitment to a ‘Level playing field’. This should include ring-fencing all the income from tenants rents, capital receipts as well as equal treatment on debt write off and gap funding available to councils who transfer their homes to give tenants real choice and provide a long term future for council housing.


Conference again calls on government to provide the ‘fourth option’ of direct investment to council housing as a matter of urgency.”


passed by 2:1 on a card vote

10 questions to ask your local council candidates....

10 questions to ask your local council candidates in the forthcoming local elections and candidates involved in internal party selections.

Let us, at BDCH, know how they respond -

1. Do you consider providing decent, affordable, secure and accountable council housing as an important part of public services?
2. Do you think that existing council homes and estates should be improved to at least meet the governments own Decent Homes Standard/Welsh Housing Quality Standard/Scottish Housing Quality Standard with local authorities receiving sufficient allowances to maintain those standards?
3. Do you think that new council housing – which is cheaper and quicker to build, manage and maintain than alternatives - should be built to meet the growing needs of households on council waiting lists?
4. Should there be a level playing field for council housing – including equal treatment on debt write-off and gap-funding subsidies for councils who decide to retain their homes - as is made available to councils that privatise? (For candidates in Wales or Scotland only) The Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Executive provide gap-funding subsidies from their own resources to authorities which transfer. Shouldn’t this subsidy be available to councils who need it, whether or not they transfer? And shouldn’t they press the UK Government to make debt write-off available on an equal basis?
5. Do you believe that all the money that belongs to council housing – every penny from rents, capital receipts from right-to-buy and other housing sales – should be ring-fenced to provide direct investment in council house – “The Fourth Option” – to improve existing stock and build new council homes?
6. Do you consider that the ODPM Select Committee was right that the government is being dogmatic in forcing councils to change the ownership or management of their council homes in order to access extra investment?
7. In view of the fact that tenant directors are prevented by company law and confidentiality clauses from acting as effective ‘representatives’ and the process does not empower tenants as a whole – Do you think councils should fund a genuinely independent tenants organisation to represent the interests of council tenants?
8. Do you agree that Registered Social Landlords are increasingly driven to act as private businesses and are in involved in a rapid process of mergers and takeovers – and that this makes them remote, less responsive to tenants needs and less accountable to both tenants and elected local authorities trying to carry out their strategic housing responsibilities?
9. Do you believe that any move to take away a life-long secure tenancy, force up council rents, deregulate housing and provide public subsidies to private developers and landlords should be opposed?
10. Are you aware that government and some local authorities are bullying and blackmailing tenants to accept a change to the ownership or management of their council housing? Shouldn’t any genuine consultation involve a fair and balanced debate so tenants hear all the arguments, with equal access to public resources for both sides and involve a formal ballot on any changes?

CONTACT US: BIRMINGHAM DEFEND COUNCIL HOUSING
P.O. BOX 11589, KINGS HEATH BIRMINGHAM B14 6WH
EMAIL:info@bdch.co.uk

What we want: The Fourth Option – direct investment to improve existing and build new council housing.

The Fourth Option is an alternative to the government’s three privatisation options of:

Stock transfer
PFIs (Private Finance Initiatives)
ALMOs (arm's-length management organisations)
PFIs and ALMOs are privatisation in two stages

The Fourth Option could be funded by adopting the following principles:-

Ring fence all the money that belongs to council housing (tenants rents, ‘right to buy’ and other capital receipts) to fund an investment allowance as first discussed in the Office of the Deputy Prime Ministers own blue skies review of housing finance. (The Way Forward for Housing Capital Finance, August 2003)

Provide a level playing field on debt so that authorities, where tenants decide to keep the council as their landlord, get debt written-off or taken over on the same terms as those who sell their homes.
Set Management and Maintenance Allowances (M&Ms) and Major Repair Allowances (MRAs) at a level that supports the true costs.

Respect tenant’s choice and stop wasting vast sums of public money on one-sided expensive PR campaigns promoting privatisation.

Encourage best practice by funding a genuinely independent tenant’s movement in each authority.
Establish a Continuous Improvement Task Force in order to utilise expertise from authorities with a good track record so they can offer assistance to those authorities who need help with improving particular services.

The campaign AGAINST the sale and privatisation of council housing.

BDCH led 2 highly successful campaigns against the governments plan to sell-off our homes - The stock transfer ballot 2001 and the options appraisal of 2006.

Despite the government and council wasting vast amounts of our money on glossy propaganda and highly paid consultants putting across a one sided argument WE WON.

Despite this they are still trying to get rid of our council homes and secure tenancies by whatever devious ways they can.

THE FIGHT GOES ON

We are a tenant led group who have support from MPs, councillors and trades unions. We are NOT funded by political parties and DO NOT follow any political agenda other than the provision of decent, affordable secure and accountable council housing.

BUILD COUNCIL HOUSING NOW