NEWS RELEASE

From the Labour Councillors on Bristol City Council

for immediate release 4th August, 2014
Labour Criticism of Mayors
Homes Commission Report
Labour councillors while welcoming the time and effort of those who took part - have
criticised the Mayors Homes Commission conclusions which come before Cabinet on
Tuesday
Cllr !on "tone# who has long held an interest in housing# complains that the Homes
Commission says that $ristol needs to build %&'' affordable homes a year yet the
Mayors ambition is to build (&' new affordable homes each year but not until )'%(
*This misses the target by half the situation is desperate for those sharing parents
homes or friends sofas who have no idea whether theyll have a roof over their head
ne+t month To ease the problem we must be more ambitious#, says Cllr !on "tone
Labour councillors are also concerned about the Homes Commissions suggestion that
e+isting council homes should be sold off to generate funds to build new affordable
homes
*Many of us feel that this is how we got ourselves in this mess in the first place -hen
Mrs Thatcher allowed people to buy their council homes at a discount tens of thousands
of the homes we would normally have let at affordable rents suddenly werent available
The housing waiting list .ust grew and grew This seems to us to be terribly short-
sighted#, he said
/ third criticism is that the Commission dismisses the idea that pension funds could be
used to invest in affordable house-building pro.ects
*$illions are tied up in pension funds and other councils have persuaded fund managers
to invest in affordable homes Manchester City council is building )01 new homes using
pension fund money -e think this is a good e+ample# one which we could follow# and
my feeling is that we could e+ceed this number of new builds in $ristol#, says Cllr !on
"tone
Cllr Ron Stone: 07718 588475
or Labour Councillors office - 011 !"" "01# or 0!$ %%&'$
Labour creatin! a fairer "ristol