Loomio
Mon 21 Mar 2016 12:52PM

Housing

ST Simon Thorpe Public Seen by 277

Housing policy

TB

Theo Barry-Born Mon 28 Mar 2016 8:29PM

Hi everyone, attached here is a set of policies with a headline policy on reclaiming empty properties for homes and for communities and a narrative (answers to questions that might be asked of it) around the headline policy.

This is basically a proposal for housing for the People's Manifesto, based on online and workshop demands, what came out of the Manifesto event discussion, looking at what Sadiq and the Greens are offering, and Ed and I throwing various thoughts around. Feedback very welcome.

I'm still getting used to Loomio so I'm not sure if it should be in the proposal section, but if you want to have a look it's here, and I can transfer a bit (e.g. the headline policy) to the proposal section in a bit.

Cheers,
Theo

TB

Poll Created Thu 31 Mar 2016 9:35AM

Headline policy proposal: Reclaim empty properties Closed Sun 3 Apr 2016 9:07AM

Hi, thought I'd turn this into proposal form so people can comment with thoughts. This is based on the idea of having a fairly radical, populist headline policy, which matches the things which people we have been speaking to have been talking about, and what people in the group (I think) are most enthusiastic about, and brings together some of the housing issues with stuff around community. It seemed from the last organisers' meeting that both Amina and James thought this could be a really good headline policy, something we could feel quite comfortable going with. Also, with the 3 day limit to discussing the proposal, this takes us through to when some of us will meet on Sunday to discuss the whole manifesto.

There's more detail and narrative in the document attached in the 'activity' column, but here's the basic policy:

Reclaiming empty houses and buildings for social purposes, and eliminate rough sleeping

If elected, we would lobby for the extension of powers to reclaim and repurpose empty residential and commercial properties, as homes for people who need them and as spaces for community projects and assemblies.

The immediate purpose of this would be twofold:

1) To provide additional shelter for homeless people. There are enough empty buildings in the city to eliminate rough sleeping - this is a scandal that can and must be ended. Models of providing more than just a roof over a head, but also a place to get back on your feet and call home, would be prioritised.
2) To reverse the erosion of community in London, by providing spaces for communities to assemble, share resources, be creative, start new community projects, and feel at home collectively.

Results

Results Option % of points Voters
Agree 100.0% 5 JTH ST Z JM CW
Abstain 0.0% 0  
Disagree 0.0% 0  
Block 0.0% 0  
Undecided 0% 10 GH TK EL RL KW JG RA HG TB NM

5 of 15 people have participated (33%)

JTH

James T Holland
Agree
Thu 31 Mar 2016 10:16AM

Brilliant love it excellent BRILLIANT! !

CW

Clare Walden
Agree
Thu 31 Mar 2016 12:08PM

hell yes theo lets get it there

ST

Simon Thorpe
Agree
Fri 1 Apr 2016 2:32PM

Love it!

Maybe this is more detail than we need, but I wonder if we could also use an Empty Building Tax to fund the administration of putting them to use??

Z

Zahra
Agree
Sat 2 Apr 2016 9:08AM

This sounds perfect. Well done guys!

JM

Jacob Mukherjee
Agree
Sat 2 Apr 2016 9:09AM

Like it a lot. Perhaps we could be more specific - properties empty for six months, say, and also say what we'd want the powers to do - compulsorily purchase, for example.

ST

Simon Thorpe Fri 1 Apr 2016 2:34PM

I always get excited when I find a good tax that seems to target the right people pretty cleanly. E.g. increasing tax on cars, as discussed under Transport, might mostly affect better off people, but by no means exclusively. An Empty Building Tax, on the other hand, seems like a pretty damn good wealth tax.

GH

Glyn Harries Sat 9 Apr 2016 7:18PM

Good proposal Theo!
there are already laws for compulsory purchase but councils rarely use them ..

Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2016 09:07:37 +0000