40 new council homes to be built in Stevenage what about the 7k on waiting list?

The labour run Stevenage Borough council was trumpeting its new announcement of 40 new council homes to be built in the Broadwater area of the town. This is clearly welcome news but does labour think for one minute this is a big success story they should be cheering about? Of course as socialists we support new council homes being built but 40? Is that all? Surely we’ve miss read the numbers here there is 7000 on the waiting list for a council house in Stevenage and with a aging population we are told this will only increase in the years to come. So labour please doesn’t go cheering this tiny little dent in the waiting list it’s a drop in the ocean if ever I saw one. Socialists will support any move towards more council housing but only a programme of mass building on a mass scale enabling construction and building workers to go back to work too can have an affect. Across the country there is an estimated 5 million on the waiting list which is growing all the time. So labour if you want to appear radical do not get us excited by 40 new homes about adding some 0’s onto the end of that then we may be getting somewhere . This is just not good enough and for labour to announce this as a big success is a disgrace. Given the fact that this year in their budget proposals the labour council in Stevenage plan to increase social tenants rent by an average of 5% possibly more if they can get away with it. Is this rent increase directed at the most venerable and some of the poorest in the town going to build these new homes? If it is it’s another example of taking from peter to give to Paul robbing from the poor to help other poor people ultimately helps no one. TUSC who will be standing in Stevenage this year in the country council elections will be standing for a mass council house building programme on a mass scale to meet the needs of the people of Hertfordshire not just the property and housing developers who will be making big money out of new housing projects no doubt.