LOOKING into the estate agents window the other day was a bit of an eye-opener when it comes to the price of houses across the borough.


I do wonder how working people starting off in life, with no lump sum from well-off parents, manage to get somewhere to live together without suffering severe financial hardship or running the gauntlet of the private rented sector.


People on benefits are criticised for milking the system when they get on housing lists, yet there seems to be no real incentive or reward for people in modestly paid jobs who want to do the right thing. 


Give people a carrot not a stick and let them genuinely choose.
As a society we need to address the housing crisis – not simply by allowing the private sector to build more expensive homes, but by going back to some post war basics.


We need to go back and start building council houses for working people again, even if it was a token number of say 50 homes to start with. 


And allocate them to people who need a base to work from and start their family lives together.


The selling off of council housing stock – and not replacing it – was the biggest act of vandalism ever carried out upon the social fabric of this country. 


It was OK if you were one of those benefiting from the discounted sale.


But it is not so good for the future generations who have been denied that same housing opportunity. 


It has also ghettoised the remaining social housing stock. 
We need a fresh start on housing policy.


Mike Crawford, 
Dentons Green