"Have a national maximum rental charge per square metre that landlords can charge"
We asked tenant, Angela Cavill-Burch to tell us what she'd do if she was in charge of housing across the country. Here is her manifesto
- Make it compulsory for all new builds to make an assessment of disability accessibility. I.e. where steps shown are they totally necessary, can doors be wider, doors all low threshold type.
- Make it compulsory for all planning departments to have a disability access qualified person on their staff.
- Have a punitive owners tax and registry of empty homes.
- Modify bedroom tax to only be applicable on homes with more than 3 bedrooms (4+) and be applicable to all ages.
- Have minimum sensible room sizes – UK houses are becoming uncomfortably small.
- Review Part M 4 of the building regulations to take into account that a lot more people are now using larger electric wheelchairs. Present minimum sizes are a joke.
- Make social housing all comply with at least BS M4(2) and have a compulsory quota of M4(3b) builds.
- Make it illegal to house mobility restricted people higher than they can walk down in an emergency. Too many people have died or nearly so because of stay put policies.
- Make anyone renting a property categorise it against specific building regulation code – M4(1) (2) (3) (3b)
- Any landlord with more than 9 rental units must have 1 in 10 that are fully wheelchair accessible.
- Make the building of appropriate percentages of social and wheelchair accessible housing on new estates of more than 15 units compulsory.
- Negotiate with the banks to make lending for off-site constructed housing easier.
- Use payment of rent as a credit score marker for getting easier access to mortgages.
- Make it easier for self-employed people to get mortgages.
- Sort out design of extra care / sheltered housing units to be truly disability accessible, units at present have rooms that are too small, lack of adequate storage, lack wheelchair accessible bathrooms & kitchens. Make them non-age specific.
- Build more bungalows.
- Have an easy visa system for foreign construction workers but at the same time ramp up the training for UK based people.
- Put a time limit on how long construction companies can land bank.
- Have an incentive scheme for turning old commercial units into housing.
- Where someone wants to build on Green belt, have a tick list of benefits to existing local community, ie more facilities, shops, schools. That developer has to put forward a detailed case for building there that includes, why needed in that particular place, transport, benefits to local community, study that includes effects on transport, environment, habitat, flora and fora. That local people involved in decision.
- Only allow the selling of social housing units to people that have lived in said unit for 10 years prior and that a replacement like for like square footage is provided first.
- Have a national maximum rental charge per square metre that landlords can charge.
- AND LASTLY most importantly get on with BUILDING MORE HOUSES.