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