Here’s my latest column for the Ham & High, published online on 18 October.  Read online here or buy the print version out on 20 October and support your local campaigning newspaper.

“Our housing market is broken.

This isn’t news to anyone on low or middle income in Hornsey & Wood Green.   Priced out of buying and with successive Tory Governments actively slashing social housing numbers, people have been left at the mercy of a private rental sector that all too often is insecure, poor quality and unaffordable.

Now, Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have crashed the economy and made a desperate situation even worse.  Homeowners are waking up to higher mortgage rates for years to come, people hoping to get on the property ladder are seeing their mortgage offers withdrawn and rents are soaring for many of Haringey’s 35,000 private renters, as landlords pass the pain down or seek to make a quick buck out of the economic chaos the Tories have unleashed.

We urgently need change and at Labour’s Annual Conference in Liverpool, we set out bold plans for how a Labour Government would fix the broken housing market, starting with a new generation of council house building to dramatically increase supply.  I want social housing to be the second largest tenure once again, and private renting to be fairer, more secure, and more affordable with tough regulation to tackle the rogue landlords putting profits over people.

As always, those already struggling are hit hardest by the current wild west property market.  A couple contacted me this week in despair because their landlord wants to put their rent up by a shameful 62%.  One works in the NHS, the other in a supermarket, but their pay doesn’t go far these days and now they fear being homeless before Christmas.  Their experience isn’t unusual and nationwide almost 2.5 million renters are behind or struggling to pay their rent – an increase of 45% since April.  Labour has called for an emergency ban on evictions this winter as no-one should lose their home during a cost-of-living crisis.

Worryingly, Liz Truss has already started to row back on commitments to rental reform, and instead of building new council housing her government is pushing the agenda of venture capitalists – slashing public investment, tearing up regulation and prioritising tax cuts for the wealthiest.

A secure home for everyone is the foundation of a healthy economy, but we’re nowhere near achieving that goal.  Taking decisive action to fix our broken housing market has never been more pressing.”

I’m supporting Renters’ Rights Awareness Week from 17-23 October.  Find out more at www.generationrent.org