Cllr Diarmaid Ward, Executive Member for Housing and Development, blogs on the Government’s housing white paper

Last week, after months of waiting, the Government issued its housing white paper, which promised to fix our broken housing market. Instead, all we got was a damp squib.

Once again, the Tories have failed to take any meaningful action to help ease the housing crisis. There is no new money for council homes, yet we all know that Islington desperately needs more genuinely affordable housing. That is why the Council is investing £40 million in this year alone to deliver the biggest house building programme for 30 years.

It is clear that the Government does not understand that working people in Islington need secure and affordable homes. In 2014, Labour-led Islington Council pledged to deliver 2,000 new genuinely affordable homes, including 500 council homes, by 2019, and we are on track to meet this target.

For private renters, promises of more security and protection are welcome, but warm words alone do not lead to secure warm homes for families trapped in private renting.

The Government cannot pretend to take security for families seriously if they are also pressing ahead with plans to end lifetime tenancies for council properties and forcing councils to sell off council homes.

Once again, the Tories have failed to properly deal with the housing crisis. Labour-led Islington Council will continue to fight the most damaging elements of the Government’s housing plans and will continue to build more genuinely affordable homes.

Pictured – Cllr Diarmaid Ward, Executive Member for Housing and Development