A New Year’s Tale

(This article was originally published by HQN Ltd in January 2019)

It was New Year’s Eve – 31st December 2018.

Three men: a Liberal, a Conservative and a Socialist were sitting together near the bar, but they hadn’t come in together. The landlord had noticed the man in the middle sat on his own for quite some time, but the other two had just seemed to appear out of nowhere.

At the table the man in the dark shirt took a sip of his beer and looked at his companions before saying: “Thank you for coming. I didn’t really want to celebrate on my own you know,” before adding “I don’t think we’ve all met before. I’m Christopher Addison.”

The man opposite raised his glass and said: “I’m Aneurin Bevan, but you can call me Nye”.

The third man smiled and concluded the introductions by saying “And I’m James Brokenshire, the current housing minister”.

Addison put down his glass. “So we are only hours away from 2019, the hundredth anniversary of my housing act that provided finance and compelled local authorities to build council housing to meet local needs after the Great War. I am intrigued to discover its legacy”.

Nye Bevan leaned forward. “I’ll tell you it made a big difference. After the Second World War we needed even more council houses and we too made money available and supported house building programmes. I wanted to create a living tapestry of mixed communities where the doctor, grocer, butcher and farm labourer could all live in the same street”.

Addison smiled, “So council housing has gone from strength to strength. Tell us more James”.

The man in the middle looked down at the table rather than at his two fellow housing and health ministers and quietly said: “Not really. You see, once the war was forgotten and prosperity had returned the country rather fell out of love with council housing”.

His two drinking companions stared at him as he continued: “We turned to the private markets for the provision of housing and encouraged home-ownership to be the tenure of choice”.

“But my dear man,” Addison interrupted “our politics and means may be different but it matters nothing if every person in the country is safely and affordably housed”.

Again the current housing minister looked at the table: “But that is not the case. The private housing market has failed those in most need and the number of council houses has reduced due to our right to buy policies. Social housing tenants are stigmatised and housing need amongst the poorest in the country is rising again.”

Again Bevan leaned forward. “That’s as maybe but tonight round this table we’ve got the brains and the beer to sort it out. And it’s not that difficult James. The key thing to remember is that the government has got to be prepared to step in both politically and financially if you want to ensure that adequate affordable housing, built to a decent standard, is available to all that need it”.

Addison nodded his head vigorously adding: “And the benefits of good housing to the health and well-being of the people, and to the economy of the nation, are not to be ignored either”.

“So gentlemen,” Brokenshire smiled “from what you say it’s as simple as making housing a political priority, committing the finances to building homes for rent and requiring local authorities to do so!”

Bevan thought he detected a hint of sarcasm so immediately raised his glass and thrust it towards the middle of the table: “It’s that simple James. Come on – cheers!” The three glasses clinked and Addison shouted: “Here’s to 2019 and a happy housing new year!”

“Shall I take these glasses?” The landlord startled James Brokenshire. “Have your friends gone?” The housing minister looked around and found he was on his own.

Of course he knew what was needed to tackle the housing crisis but unlike Addison and Bevan he didn’t have the luxury of a political and social consensus brought about by years of war. No, he had the far more pragmatic problem of raising the profile of social housing within a government obsessed with, and a nation divided by, Brexit. In a small way however, the tragedy at Grenfell Tower was his opportunity; was the event that had led to the consensus that such a thing should never be allowed to happen again.

So in 2019 he had to resolve to wrestle back as much government control as possible into setting building and housing standards, he had to find new ways of making sure the voices of tenants were heard and their needs met, and he had to support local authorities and housing associations to build more homes.

“It’s that simple James,” he said to himself and wondered whether or not he should have just one more drink before he went home to see in the New Year.