At a recent full meeting of Brighton & Hove City Council on 3 February, Labour Councillors won support for plans to ban second homes in new developments.

Labour is acutely aware that Brighton & Hove is critically affected by the housing crisis, with families, workers, young and old people all being priced out of the city due to the lack of affordable housing. The city faces a devastating homelessness problem, and a lack of council housing.

Labour’s plans to stem the rise of second home ownership are made in the knowledge that whilst the critical shortage of social housing and the absence of rent controls are key causes of the housing crisis, Government data shows 1 in 37 homes in Brighton & Hove were empty last year, and the majority of those unused properties were second homes.

Councillor Gill Williams, Labour’s opposition spokesperson on housing issues, says:

“I brought this motion to Council because we are in dire need of a ban on second home ownership in Brighton & Hove.

“Our city is at the sharp end of the housing crisis. The Greater Brighton area faces a ‘lost generation’ of working age people and families. We are in danger of losing whole classes in our local schools due to the lack of affordable housing pricing people out of the area. Communities are being eroded through the negative impact of properties being sold off to wealth investors.

“Whilst developments that offer genuinely affordable housing options are always welcome, it’s imperative to curtail developments that are aimed specifically at investors at the expense of local people.

“We need affordable homes in our city, not empty ones. We must act now to ban the sale of new homes as second homes, or risk Brighton & Hove being plunged even further into a catastrophic housing crisis.”

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Image: Creative Commons