G15 responds to Labour's National Policy Forum consultation
The Labour Party's National Policy Forum (NPF) is the online home of the party's policy development. The 2023 consultation offered an opportunity for stakeholders to contribute to the Party's policy making process.
As the consultation stated itself, this is a critical year for Labour, with attention turning to their policies as we approach the general election. Labour’s policy commissions since 2020 will form the foundations of their election manifesto. Therefore, the NPF is an important moment to make the case for housing associations as a critical partner for Labour to achieve it's ambition of making social housing the second largest tenure once again.
The G15 has responded to the ‘A future where families come first’ part of the commission, in particular question five, that asks "how can Labour make home ownership a reality for more families," and "how can the next Labour government build more social and council housing and ensure greater investment in genuinely affordable homes?"
The G15 consultation response focuses on:
- Delivering many more social homes; through adequate grant funding that reflects rising costs, greater flexibility of funding requirements, long term certainty for the sector through fairer rents, and planning reforms that support affordable housing delivery.
- Shared Ownership as an integral part of Labour’s ambition to increase homeownership levels, particularly for those on lower incomes priced out of the open market.
- Improving the conditions of existing stock to support a new generation of social housing. We call for a new decent homes standard with funding to deliver, accelerating the awarding of the SHDF, and the removal of VAT on housing association activity.
Our response also highlights how the government can better support residents struggling with the cost of living through welfare reforms, energy bill support, and skills and employment training programmes.