Lessons of Coalition (12): what do we Lib Dems need to learn?

LibDemVoice is running a daily feature, 'Lessons of Coalition', to assess the major do's and don'ts learned from our experience of the first 3 years in government. Reader contributions are welcome, either as comments or posts. The word limit is no more than 450 words, and please focus on just one lesson you think the party needs to learn. Simply email your submission to voice@libdemvoice.org and copy info@eastmidslibdems.org.uk.

Today Patrick Murray shares his thoughts.

Make sure our policies are reflected in our manifesto

One of the great challenges facing our society is the housing crisis. For many young people getting on the housing ladder is impossible. We have over 4.5 million people on waiting lists for affordable homes. Living in cramped or poorly maintained housing can have significant physical and mental health impacts. Unaffordable rents can leave people stuck in the benefits trap, or forced to live in areas where jobs are scarce.

The Coalition's response has been to change fundamentally the nature of affordable housing. Rents in new affordable homes funded by government grants are expected to be 80% of the private market rent, meaning new social homes are unaffordable for many in areas of high demand. Capital spending slashed in the emergency budget of 2010 by over 60%. Of the recent £100 billion infrastructure package announced by the Coalition, only 3.3% was to be spent on the building of affordable housing.

Housing benefit now takes up 95% of the spend on affordable housing, and only 5% of the nation's spend on affordable housing goes on the actual building of affordable homes! This is a crazy waste of public money, especially considering the economic impact of actually building homes.

The sad truth is it didn't have to be this way. Over the previous decade, the Liberal Democrats came up with a suite of excellent policy proposals (see here, for example) that could have made a real difference to this national crisis. So what happened?

In short when it came to the finalisation of our manifesto, the housing section was stripped out, leaving only bringing back empty homes into use. Whilst this is important, the reality is that refurbishing empty homes, many in areas of low demand, simply cannot provide the answers that we need without a whole range of other interventions aimed at massively boosting the supply of homes in the right places.

This in turn led to a Coalition Agreement completely devoid of any further policy on housing. The result was that Conservative-inspired policies expanded to fill the gap. In short, we shied away from putting forwards liberal solutions to solve a crisis impacting on our society, and causing great misery for some of the most vulnerable.

Let's not make the same mistake twice. The Liberal Democrats new policy, Affordable Homes for All, agreed at the 2012 September Conference, is a radical set of policies which can solve this crisis that has been brewing for generations.

Building the right mix of homes, in the right places, at the right affordability can help create a stronger economy and a fairer society, enabling every person to get on in life, by breaking down barriers faced by those in unsuitable housing.

So this time round, when we have the solution to such a major problem, let's actually campaign on it and put it in our manifesto! Maybe then the Liberal Democrats can help deliver the good quality, affordable homes that millions of people desperately need.

Previously Published:

Stephen Tall: Stronger policy development and campaigning on issues that matter to the public (AKA where's our liberal equivalent of the benefits cap?)

Mark Valladares: Better party communications responding to the realities of governing

Gareth Epps: Government: What's Occurrin?

Nick Thornsby: Making a success of coalition government as a concept

Caron Lindsay: That old "walk a mile in each others' shoes" thing works

Louise Shaw: One member, one vote for all party elections

Mark Pack: The invisible ministers should up their game, or be sacked

Robin McGhee: We should organise ministers better

Rob Parsons: Understand the mechanics of government

Richard Morris: Make the red lines deeper and wider

Bill le Breton: The Open Coalition and Its Enemies

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