Housing Held Hostage (a 2023 update)

How can Brighton and Hove escape?

[This essay was originally published by the Brighton Society]

Nationally, the ‘build more homes’ mantra sidesteps the issue of affordability. Britain needs to build council homes by the 100s of thousands. In Brighton & Hove, as the birth-rate drops, as half the population is swapped out by those who can afford to come and live here, as school leavers realise they’ll have to leave the city to have a home of their own…a coalition of citizen campaigners wrestle with harsh realities.

Adrian Hart, April 2023.

It’s a damp mid-October Wednesday in the city and I’m attending an Action on Homes one day-conference organised by Brighton & Hove Housing Coalition. Apart from the campaigners and various expert speakers scheduled for the opening sessions, there is only a handful of attendees sitting in the large hall of the Brighthelm Centre.

It’s a shame. Given all that is said on this subject by the political left very few Green or Labour councillors attended the event (I counted three out of a combined 36 who dropped by for a short while). Do our elected representatives feel the problem is so intractable there’s no point discussing it anymore?

[Read on]