CCH would like to congratulate the Labour Party on their victory in the General Election. Labour’s pledge to double the size of the co-operative economy is a huge vote of confidence in our members, and the whole of the co-operative sector. We look forward to working in partnership with government to achieve this ambition. We particularly welcome the 43 Labour and Co-operative MPs to Parliament.
With co-operative housing making up less than 1% of social housing in the UK, our Manifesto recommendations included an amendment to the Localism Act to create a ‘presumption in favour’ of disposing of public land and buildings to co-operatives; investment in a financial intermediary to provide access to low-cost capital finance for co-operative housing organisations; and also the creation of a legal form of co-operative tenure through a Co-operative Housing Act to place co-operative tenants on the same secure footing as other social housing tenants.
We also want to see the growth of tenants‘ rights in social housing generally, by an amendment to the Right to Manage Regulations to include a Right to Manage for housing associations tenants; further investment to build on the success of the Four Million Homes programme of free training for social housing residents; and support for the creation of an independent Resident Voice.
CCH looks forward to establishing a collaborative relationship with our new government so that we can work together to help drive growth and change in the housing sector.
You can read our letter to government here.