Healey Announces Review Into Decline Of Homeownership

John Healey MP revealed he has his eye on more than just a revival of social housing, when the shadow housing minister used his speech to the Labour Party conference to announce an independent review that will seek to identify the causes for the decline of home ownership. Healey told conference that he has asked Peter Redfern, chief executive of volume housebuilder Taylor Wimpey, to lead the review to “analyse the root causes” and to “set out ideas for a wide new debate”. The Redfern Review will report back in the summer. Healey told conference that home ownership is “part of the British dream” and “More than four in five of us, aspire to own our own home. Yet home ownership has fallen each and every year over the last five years,” said Healey.  Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

New Housing Ministerial Team In Shadow Cabinet

Following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Leader he has appointed Jon Trickett as Shadow Communities Secretary and John Healey as Shadow Housing & Planning Minister. Jon Trickett has been MP for Hemsworth in West Yorkshire since 1996. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary for Prime Minister Gordon Brown between 2008 and 2010. He was then promoted by Ed Milliband to Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office.  John Healey is MP for Wentworth & Dearne. He was Labour's last Housing Minister serving in the Cabinet from 2008 to 2010. Previously he was Minister for Local Government and both Economic & Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

Labour Names New Shadow Housing Minister

Durham MP Roberta Blackman-Woods is the new Labour shadow housing minister, the party has announced. The Durham MP, who comes from Northern Ireland, has been in Parliament since 2005 after being selected as candidate on an all-women list. She is a sociologist with an interest in housing, and her CV includes being welfare rights officer at Newcastle City Council, a job she had before she became a university lecturer. Her last role in Parliament was as shadow planning minister. Ms Blackman-Woods will now be responsible for both housing and planning. Labour previously split these two positions up. Read more on the propertyindustryeye website.

A Housing Policy in Disarray

To a large extent, the few housing policy announcements made at recent Labour and Tory conferences have been eclipsed by changes in the housing brief announced by both main parties in Monday’s ministerial and shadow ministerial reshuffles. All the same, Kris Hopkins, MP for Keighley, has been appointed housing minister, taking over from Mark Prisk, who was axed after just over a year in the role. Hopkins joins the CLG as an undersecretary of state, suggesting the role of housing minister has been demoted in the government’s ministerial hierarchy and reinforcing the impression that chancellor George Osborne is running housing policy from the Treasury.  Wolverhampton MP Emma Reynolds has replaced Jack Dromey as Labour’s shadow housing minister. Worryingly for the housing and construction sectors, these changes may signal downgrading of housing policy at a time when housing is growing in importance in the public’s mind. Read more on the Left Foot Forward blog.

All You Need To Know About the New Housing Appointments

Pen pictures of the new junior minister for housing and his shadow in the Labour Party.

Kris Hopkins

Before entering the political arena, Mr Hopkins was a member of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment and served in Kenya, Northern Ireland and Germany. As a former Bradford council leader, Mr Hopkins was elected as the MP for Keighley in 2010 after standing twice before, Halifax in 2005 and Leeds West in 2001. During his time as a local councillor, Mr Hopkins covered social services and council housing, and he oversaw the delivery of housing stock transfer in Bradford.

Emma Reynolds

Emma was elected as the MP for Wolverhampton North East in 2010 and since October 2011 she has covered the shadow minister for Europe role. An Oxford University graduate, studying philosophy, politics and economics, Emma has previously worked for the Party of European Socialists in Brussels as an adviser to Robin Cook and was later appointed as political advisor to Geoff Hoon in his role as Europe minister and then chief whip.

Read more on Inside Housing.