Who’s due the house marks?

ELN has long argued that the mayoral election in Tower Hamlets should be decided by policy differences: let’s look at how the two candidates shape up on housing policy.
Rahman makes it clear his priority is supply. That’s a sensible move: supply is a lever which will affect so many other aspects of housing, such as access and rents. His particular pledge is to deliver 5,500 affordable homes in the borough (following on from the 4,000 delivered in his current term). One of the areas these homes will come from is Whitechapel, where Rahman has worked hard to ensure there is a viable, comprehensive masterplan which is not only suitable for public consultation but also keeps the public in the driving seat as the masterplan is implemented.
In contrast, Biggs promises over 1,000 new council homes. The number is lower because Biggs will not count the homes built by RSLs (a term which has not been used since 2010, when the incoming Government adopted the term “Registered Providers”, or RPs, to take its place). It is not clear how Biggs will find the land for these homes or how he will fund the building costs, and nor does he give any guarantee that these homes will be let at affordable rents. If he intends to use Housing Corporation money to finance the build, he won’t be able to charge affordable rents – in which case, he’ll be borrowing the money to build them, incurring interest charges too.
Biggs is adopting a traditional hard left demand here: build Council homes rather than housing association ones. Rahman is being more pragmatic: don’t let dogma stand in your way, get people housed and you can always campaign for housing association homes to revert to the Council later. It is interesting to see the U-turn from Labour. Biggs was not on the Council during most of the Housing Choice programme, having been booted upstairs to the safest seat in the Greater London Assembly. However, under Michael Keith and his successors, the Labour Party had a clear goal of selling all Council homes to housing associations. Perhaps this is another policy Biggs and Keith disagreed on.
Both candidates plan new futures for Tower Hamlets Homes. Rahman, in keeping with his grassroots, “let the members decide” origins in the Labour Party, proposes to hold the ballot of Tower Hamlets Homes residents which the Labour Party never let them have. He wants residents to decide whether the ALMO stock should come back in-house. On the other hand, Biggs will impose his view and bring the stock back in house, without letting residents have a say. Keeping Council housing rather than ALMOs is another hard left demand, so Biggs is laying out a very radical agenda here. However, as quick action would jeopardise grants given for Decent Homes work, Biggs will probably have to wait to the conclusion of the improvements programme before proceeding, which could be as long as half his term of office, to implement the pledge.
The third interesting contrast between the two candidates is how to deal with residents. Rahman makes it clear that he supports the Tenants’ Federation’s Residents’ Charter. Biggs, on the other hand, again eschews being involved with existing community organisations and wants to create a town hall-based scrutiny committee in which residents can have a say in his housing policy. Who will choose these residents and what say they will be allowed is not clear. Further, given that the Mayor’s housing policy really only impacts directly on Tower Hamlets Homes, with all the housing which the Labour Party handed over to Housing Associations being excluded.
In short, Rahman’s housing policy seems to be more keyed in to what is going on in the Borough, whereas Biggs seems more distant and removed from the detail of what is happening in Tower Hamlets today. That Rahman has this more detailed understanding of what housing policy is needed in Tower Hamlets today is in no small way due to his excellent Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Rabina Khan (pictured above at the launch of the Tower Hamlets First manifesto). Whoever has Cllr Rabina on their side in the Administration to come will have a great advantage when it comes to housing policy.