Thousands fear being forced out as 73 landlord MPs vote down motion to ensure housing is ‘fit for humans’
MULTIMILLIONAIRE PM David Cameron was accused of “social cleansing” yesterday after threatening to bulldoze thousands of working families’ homes without guarantee of replacement and denying millions the right to live somewhere “fit for humans.”
In a panicked response to the housing crisis, the Prime Minister promised this week to end “decades of neglect” by knocking down up to 100 so-called “sink estates” as part of a £140 million scheme.
But he refused to give assurances to council tenants and homeowners who fear they would either not be offered the replacement homes built by private developers or would not be able to afford them.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn put the PM on the spot at Prime Minister’s Questions, saying that many families feared they would be “forced away” from their communities.
Mr Corbyn said that £140m is “not even going to pay for the bulldozers,” let alone build tens of thousands of new homes and compensate the homeowners living on estates.
“You haven’t clearly thought this thing through very carefully,” he told Mr Cameron.
“Because every estate that you announce you wish to bulldoze will include tenants and people who have bought their homes under right to buy.
“Will those people, the leaseholders, will they be guaranteed homes on those rebuilt estates that you are proposing?”
Short on answers, Mr Cameron attempted to hit back by labelling Mr Corbyn a “small-C conservative” in a rhetorical rant.
“That is the fact of politics today — a Conservative government who want to give people life chances and a Labour opposition who say ‘stay stuck in poverty’,” he fumbled.
But a Labour spokesman said that tenants fearful about their future recognised that Mr Corbyn was speaking for them.
“If you talk to the people who live in social housing they are very frightened about what’s happening under the Tories,” he said.
“Nobody is sure what will happen when they demolish these areas they talk about. Nobody knows if they will have the security of tenancy afterwards. There has to be a suspicion of social cleansing.”
The heated exchange, which saw Mr Cameron descend back into his comfort zone of “yah-boo” politics, came after a crunch vote on the Housing Bill on Tuesday night.
Mr Cameron, who rents out a posh London pad, was one of 73 landlord Tory MPs pocketing more than £10,000 a year from rents who voted against a “fit for human habitation” law for private-sector homes.
Tory Housing Minister Brandon Lewis, Business Secretary Sajid Javid and former Justice Secretary Chris Grayling also voted against the proposal, which was defeated by 312 votes to 219 — a majority of 93.
Labour shadow housing minister Theresa Pearce, who tabled the Bill amendment, said it was “distressing” that hazardous and filthy homes were rented out to desperate tenants at “obscene prices.”
The Tories were met with fierce backlash for trying to fast-track the Bill last month. It seeks to abolish lifetime council tenancies by setting a five-year maximum term.
The Bill also proposes “high-value” council homes be sold to compensate housing associations for the extension of right to buy and to impose means testing to make social tenants on pre-tax household incomes of £30-40,000 pay market rents.
Originally published (Morning Star)
