Yvette Cooper MP, Minister for Housing

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Conference

Here in Bournemouth this morning, we have had a great debate on the future of housing in Britain.

We’ve heard from Gravesham and Milton Keynes, Birmingham and Camden, from Councillors and trade unionists.

But conference, I want to take you back twelve months – to this very same conference hall, and this very same platform, to the day David Cameron stood right here and talked about housing.

That day, when trying to appeal to young voters. He said:

“we must be on the side of aspiration. And that means building more houses and flats for young people”

Three weeks later he travelled up the road to East London.

That day, when talking to Age Concern he said:

“we need to change the planning rules so we get ….Fewer homes designed for young single people”

A hundred and eight miles, and a hundred and eighty degree u turn.

Once again, David Cameron spinning a different tale for different audiences.

Conference that is not leadership.


Conference, our party leader, and our Prime Minister put housing at the top of his agenda.

Conference I want to thank Labour Party members, councillors, trade unionists who have helped us do this, and who are working even now to back more and better homes across the country.

And I want to thank the Policy Forum’s housing sub group – Michael Cashman, Jeremy Beecham, Jack Dromey, Daniel Zeichner, and all the other members whose ideas have fed into the Housing Green Paper. And my colleagues, Iain Wright and Kay Andrews working on housing as well as Hazel, John Healey and Parmjit Dhanda in our Department.

This party knows how much housing matters.

It’s much harder to improve kids education, if they don’t have the space at home to do their homework
It’s much harder to help pensioners stay well through the winter, if the windows rattle and let in the chill.
It’s much harder to build businesses or public services if the new recruits can’t afford a home nearby.


That’s why the Labour government has done so much to keep mortgage rates low.

That’s why Labour has invested so much to halve the number of families becoming homeless in just five years.

And that’s why Labour has done so much to improve council homes after years of Tory neglect.

Ten years ago, on the Penwerris estate in Falmouth, over 2,000 families were living in homes only heated by a coal fire.

Some of the health visitors came to see me because they were so worried about the mums and babies going home from the maternity unit to such cold, damp and miserable homes.

Today, thanks to government investment and the local ALMO,
    every homes has central heating
    children don’t wake up cold in the morning
    babies come back to a warm home
    the health visitors say they’ve seen a drop in post natal depression
    and its thanks to a Labour government


But we all of us know the scale of the challenges we face.

Every one of us in this hall knows of young couples, working hard, but still struggling to afford a home of their own.

Every Labour councillor and Labour MP knows of families stuck waiting on the council list for a bigger home as their kids are growing.

People are living longer.

More people are living alone.

Families need housing for four generations not three.

Yes, house building is at its highest rate since 1990. But it isn't enough.

I believe this country hasn’t built enough homes for over a generation. We now must build more homes.

Half of all first time buyers now depend on the Bank of Mum and Dad to get them started.

But what if you haven't got friends or family to help?
 
Your chances of becoming a home owner should not depend on whether your parents or grand parents were home owners before you.
That is not fair. Housing will become the greatest cause of growing inequality in Britain if we don’t act.

That is why Gordon Brown has set a target of three million more homes by 2020.

Because we will back the aspirations and ambitions of young families who want a home of their own.


And how have the Tories responded?

In every corner of the nation, Tory MPs and councillors are already campaigning to cut new homes.

At least one Cameron ally, Ed Vaizey was honest about it. When asked if he was opposed to more homes in his Oxfordshire constituency he answered:

“I’m not opposed to housing per se but …. I want all the housing to go into Andrew Smith’s constituency”

We always knew they were NIMBYs.

They always said: Not In My Back Yard
Now they say: Not in Tory Seats
Not just NIMBYs, but NITS.

Well Mr Vaizey, Andrew Smith wants more housing in his constituency. But every town and city in the country needs to do its bit.

Conference. We know the Tories will fight affordable housing every step of the way.

We need a united Labour campaign to build more affordable homes.

Not just in our towns and cities, but in villages and rural communities too

Not just in the South, but in the North and the Midlands too.

And conference, I’m fed up of hearing people describe the North as a low demand area where no one wants to live. The North is growing. We’ve got new jobs, more people, and we need more homes too.

So lets have eco-towns in the North as well as in the South.

We will invest £8bn into new affordable housing for every corner of the country.

More help for first time buyers. Help for the aspirant home owners of the future. But help too for families who can’t afford to own.

New social housing up from 30,000 homes this year to our aim of 50,000 after that.

That means housing associations building more homes.

But conference, we have also listened to party members across the country.

I can tell you that we have approved the first ten councils and ALMOs to start bidding for government grant to build new homes.

It is time for councils to be able to build council homes again too.

We are changing the rules to make it easier for councils to build.

We are giving councils more flexibility.

We are working with councils across the country to help all of them deliver decent homes.

And after the work of the Housing subgroup, we are looking at new ways to move to a more level playing field.

But conference we must keep within our budgets.

And conference, we won’t turn back the clock.

Never again must we build the big council estates on one side of town and the luxury executive homes on the other.

Never again should we tolerate the housing apartheid that decades of new development delivered in Britain.

Nye Bevin dreamed a mixed community, where “the doctor, the grocer, the butcher and the farm labourer all lived in the same street.” It was a dream he never achieved.

Today we must pledge to build truly mixed communities. You should walk down the street and have no idea which door is private, which is social housing, or which is a key workers starter home.

New homes need good design and proper infrastructure too.

Not just the transport, but the community centres and parks, the places for pensioners to meet or for children to play.

Conference, we need higher environmental standards in all our homes.

Britain, is the first country in the world to set a timetable for all new homes to be zero carbon homes.

By 2020 I want to see us build over a million zero carbon homes.

Eco towns – with zero carbon offices, zero carbon schools and zero carbon pubs.

And conference a competition for the best architects and designers in the world to develop plans for eco towns.

So conference we have made great progress since last year’s housing debate.

And Conference, we need to work together to back the housing we need for Britain’s future.

Because in the end this is about our children’s future.

As those midwives and health visitors on the Penwerris estate made clear, if children grow up in bad housing it can affect their health and their chances in life for decades to come.

Thanks to a Labour government, since 1997, over one million children have been lifted out of cold, damp or poor housing.

But that is not enough.

Now we must work together so by 2010 we make that two million children helped into better homes.

And let us aim to give all our children that basic right – a decent and secure home in which to grow.

Let this conference and this party now unite.

Let us pledge to back more and better homes for Britain, and to make housing the progressive cause of the 21st century.