Labours Parliamentary candidate for Bridgwater and West Somerset, Mick Lerry, has called on the Government to take action to make home ownership a realistic aspiration for working people and rents more affordable by building much needed homes.
According to independent experts, under the current Government we are building less than half the homes a year we need to meet demand. The gap between the number of homes we build each year and what we need is unprecedented at over 100,000 each year.
A housing shortage, combined with the cost of living crisis – with falling wages and rising bills – is making rents increasingly expensive and putting homeownership out of reach for millions of working people.
Back in 1997 it took an average family just three years to save for a proper deposit on a home but today it takes 22 years. Private sector rents are now at the highest level ever recorded.
Mick Lerry said:
“David Cameron failed to tackle the housing shortage which is central to his cost of living crisis.
“The housing market isn’t working because there simply aren’t enough homes around for young people and families that want to buy but are forced to rent. The Tory-led Government has done next to nothing to increase housing supply and is presiding over the lowest levels of housebuilding in peacetime since the 1920s.”
“Labour will tackle the housing crisis by increasing the number of new homes built to at least 200,000 a year by 2020 and we’ll scrap the cruel bedroom tax which is driving so many families into rent arrears and puts them at risk of homelessness.”
ENDS
Cllr Mick Lerry
Leader of the Labour Group on SDC
Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Bridgwater and West Somerset
email: michael.lerry@btinternet.com
mobile: 07775 905080