Housing and communities
Housing provision and the construction industry are in crisis. Many households cannot find affordable housing, especially housing for rent. Others, struggling with mortgage arrears, face re-possession and homelessness. And the builders who could be helping to solve these problems have been left struggling with unemployment.
The Green Party believes that it is for governments to solve these problems by employing building workers in a large programme of social housing, and by further expanding the public housing stock through a Right to Rent scheme. Homes should also be retrofitted with energy efficiency measures and new stock should be built to the highest standard.
Through the Green New Deal - our package of investments to rebuild the economy and tackle climate change - we are calling for:
• A £6 billion fund to enable local authorities to buy up and convert, or in some cases build, new housing for rent. This would pay for 60,000 new homes to be built to low carbon standards, as far as possible on brownfield sites, and provide 140,000 jobs.
• A £3 billion investment to support a Right to Rent scheme whereby local authorities purchase homes threatened by repossession and rent these back to occupiers.
• Insulate over five years all 20 million uninsulated homes in the UK.
Beyond the Green New Deal, the Green Party housing policy advocates further measures including:
• Extra support to enable the homeless to get off the streets and into safe, comfortable and environmentally-sustainable accommodation.
• Ensuring that all new homes are built to high environmental standards.
• Greater support to housing co-operatives and co-housing schemes, through measures including easier access to finance.
• Greater protection to tenants by tightening the rules on dishonest landlords.
