Forget Brexit: housing is the key issue for Labour | Phil McDuff
Housing benefits for 18- to 21-year-olds are due to be cut next month. This is, of course, a policy that is both vicious and vacuous, and whose impacts will be felt in a rise in homelessness and the increased vulnerability of young people, especially those who are members of marginalised and at-risk groups. Even David Cameron's government shied away from the idea.
Access to housing is probably the most vital issue in UK politics at the moment, despite all the parties being mindlessly distracted with the Brexit dog and pony show. Houses in the UK are the smallest in Europe, badly built and, despite successive governments claiming they want to make them "affordable," absurdly expensive. Over the years policymakers have shifted towards treating houses as assets first, and only secondarily as places that people live in. Asset appreciation is probably the closest thing we have to "printing money" in our economy, and the short-term gains that can be realised for free have proved too attractive for governments to resist.
Related: Housing benefit cuts 'put young people at risk of homelessness'
Related: My homeless friend's death shocked me into taking action | Susannah Tresilian
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