LHG 2013 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Report by Paul Eastwood, LHG Secretary LHG’s 2013 AGM was held on Saturday, 16 March. The meeting was well attended by members from across England, reflecting the high importance that housing will be as a policy issue in the run up to the General Election.
LHG’s Executive Committee for 2013/14, comprises 12 members, including Kerry Pollard ( Chair ), Paul Eastwood ( Secretary ), Ross Houston ( Treasurer ), and David Rodgers ( Membership Secretary ).
Guest speaker, Chris Williamson, M.P., Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government, gave an excellent address to the meeting. Chris pointed out Grant Shapps’s comment following the last General Election, that if the Coalition could not exceed the house building programme of the last Labour Government it would regard it “ as a mark of failure”. Since 2010, there has been a 31% increase in people sleeping rough; statutory homelessness claims had increased by a third; and there had been an 800% increase in the number of households living in bed and breakfast. Chris stated:
"The coalition government has utterly failed on housing, whatever measure you look at. The number of new homes built has been pathetic whilst the number of people sleeping rough has soared. We need a massive house building programme to address the housing crisis and to get the economy moving again and only Labour will deliver that"
LHG’s work on policy development, includes actions to scrap the “bedroom tax”; taking housing investment out of the PSBR, to help kick start a significant local authority house building programme; and, restoring long term security of tenure for all new Council and housing association tenants. Result of ballot for EC 2013 Tony Aslam - 8* John Bevan - 30 Emma Burnell - 34 Ed Derrick - 32 Paul Eastwood - 39 Nicky Gavron - 34 Ross Hatfull - 24* Steve Hilditch - 38 Marianne Hood - 35 Ross Houston - 33 Heather Johnson - 26 Jacky Peacock - 39 Kerry Pollard - 32 Mike Rogers - 16* David Rodgers - 37 * not elected Coalition has 'utterly failed on housing'
Housebuilding A speaker at the Labour Housing Group's weekend AGM condemned the coalition's record on housing, claiming it had "utterly failed". Chris Williamson MP, shadow minister for communities and local government, quoted former housing minister Grant Shapps' words that if the Tory-led coalition could not exceed the housebuilding output of the previous Labour government, it should regard it as a "mark of failure". Williamson claimed that since the 2010 General Election, rough sleeping has increased by 31 percent, statutory homelessness claims have risen by a third, and there has been an 800 percent increase in the number of households living in B&Bs. "The coalition government has utterly failed on housing, whatever measure you look at. The number of new homes built has been pathetic whilst the number of people sleeping rough has soared. We need a massive house building programme to address the housing crisis and to get the economy moving again and only Labour will deliver that," said Williamson. Labour Housing Group is a socialist society affiliated to the Labour Party, with members throughout England. It is currently working on policies that include plans to scrap the bedroom tax; taking housing investment out of the Public sector borrowing requirement; and restoring long term security of tenure for all new social housing tenants |
