CHURCHILL WAY BEATS THE THATCHER WAY

 

The rotten housing

bosses` rule is doomed

The headline in a recent issue of The Times newspaper read:”It`s time for another council house  revolution”.The  article that followed that headline described the revolution which is now surely coming.

The revolution is coming at a time when the floodgates have suddenly been swept  away and rotten rule of  housing associations with their inefficient and undemocratic ways has been exposed.

The rotten rule has been attacked for nearly a quarter of a century by this blog`s publisher, Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federationin its campaigning that housing associations are  accountable to no one but themselves. They do just as they like

Now we know they are vulnerable. Their rotten rule is finished because the government has stepped in.It  has cut off their cash supply and told  them to get  their house in order.

How we reached this necessary position is related in The Times  article which was written by Emma Duncan. This is what she wrote:

“ `Housing is the first of the social services` .No, that wasn`t an opposition politician needling the government about its failure to solve the housing crisis. It was Winston Churchill in his thundering introduction to the 1951 Tory Manifesto.

 “It has taken the death of a two-year-old in a mouldy flat to make us realise how right he was. Britain is a rich country and yet the story of Awaab Ishak(pictured) is Dickensian.He died because we failed to satisfy the most basic of human needs. The main reason  is that we have taken a Thatcherite rather than a Churchillian view of housing.

“The Thatcherite revolution overturned the postwar default of state command of the economy and replaced it with the assumption that the market would dominate. In much of life that was the right thing to do. The state had bogged up industry and communications for instance and the market improved the quality and quantity of what was on offer.

“But  demand brings forth supply, people have plenty of choice and providers are under pressure to improve qua;ity. That`s not the case in housing.”

Emma Duncan`s article comes to this hopeful conclusion:”Let`s hope the death of Awaab Ishak pushes us to change our system so people no longer have to live in houses that kill them”

 Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277.