Local people deserve good quality housing they can afford

Labour in administration started building social housing. We will continue that, as well as using every lever at our disposal to increase the proportion of social housing in all new developments in the town.

We will:

• Identify new sites for the direct building of council housing.
• Propose to Homes England that they work together with Southend Council to develop social and/or key worker housing on the ex-NHS Fossetts site.
• Enhance fire safety in all residential tower blocks by carrying out level 4 risk assessments to give residents peace of mind.
• Incorporate an expectation of ‘Lifetime home standards’ for truly accessible homes, and retain in the housing stock properties that already have adaptations.
• Tighten planning policies to make it much harder for developers to avoid their obligations to build social housing.
• Introduce a selective licensing scheme to better enforce standards expected of landlords in the private-rented sector.
• Help with the formation of a tenants’ union to protect the rights of tenants.
• Ensure that the ‘Housing First’ model is fully supported, so that the allocation of safe, secure and permanent housing is prioritised.
• Work collaboratively with other housing providers to provide appropriate housing for those fleeing domestic abuse.

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