Lewisham West and Penge candidates on housing

I hear the groans, but I can’t help it.

I will be looking at our candidates’ positions on housing with particular attention. In @JohnRussell 's leaflet we learn that the Lib Dems would build genuinely affordable housing, and deliver a fairer deal for renters. That leaves a few things unspecified, such as how much, genuinely affordable to people of what income, and where - here or elsewhere? And a fairer deal for renters? What does that mean?

There’s some kind of answer provided by this from the (non local) Labour Party

Labour pledges ‘tougher’ standards for rented houses

which I think is quite reasonable, but that’s taking us beyond local politics.

I’m interested in candidates that will protect the character, infrastructure, public services and green space of our area from further overpopulation.

Steering clear of candidates that think Government meddling in markets (e.g. rent regulation / caps) will help renters. I expect politicians to understand market dynamics, and the side-effects of tampering.

From @TimLund’s article:

I am already aware of several landlords who have sold off properties and others who have decided to invest elsewhere due to government tax changes and the possibility of more legislation. Action against landlords will not have the effect of increasing quality and reducing rents it will just reduce the number of properties available.
The number of rogue landlords will not be affected and overcrowding etc will continue for as long as the legislation is toothless and the needs of tenants ensure that silence as opposed to homelessness is the best option.

I have some sympathy for @Wynell here, because although I think the Labour policies in the article I linked to are quite reasonable, I get why they will be read as just more landlord clobbering, and the scepticism about local authority involvement making things better is, let us say, predictable.

At which point, remarkably, I manage to resist the urge to digress into the economics of the private rented sector and a closely argued comparison between here and Germany, and leave the thread as it is, hoping that we will here more from our local candidates.

I’m not quite sure the government or regulation serves well either the renters or the landlords. But to see Gavin Barwell’s comments on licensing are irksome. The Government showed no similar concern for landlords when George Osborne scrapped mortgage tax relief on buy-to-lets ensuring some landlords took a 40% hit on their profits. How did the government think landlords would recoup that loss?

I’m really interested to hear how the status quo is helping renters. The market is unbalanced and from a price and quality perspective works against the average renter.