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SOUTHERN/EASTERN CAVE Nearly 1 million homes are unfit for habitation and many and the capitalist press.

The latest victim of the "great debate' epidemic is housing. This pamphlet is produced by NUPE and SCAT (Services to Community Action and Tenants) as their contribution to the great debate on housing.

It represents a serious attempt to analyse the housing policies of the coalition government and their impact on the working class.

Promise

However, at the last moment the authors pull back from the conclusions that must be drawn to arm the workers for the fight.

The introduction contains a promise of great things, pointing out the attacks on housing which have been carried out since the election of a Labour government in 1974.

It states clearly as its starting point, that the private market is incapable of meeting the housing problems of the working class.

The authors assess the myth of a surplus of housing, which the Tories in the GLC and elsewhere are already using to cut programmes, from the workers' viewpoint.

They show how a large proportion of dwellings are kept empty by owners and landlords hoping for more favourable market conditions, how many more are second homes, how nearly a million homes are unfit and many more are in need of expensive repairs.

Set against this are the large number of households forced to share accommodation with others, the lengthening waiting lists and the scandalous level of homelessness.

The 'surplus' soon evaporates, leaving a tragic shortage for millions of households.

After clearing away the idea that there is no housing problem the pamphlet looks at the record of the Labour Party on the question.

They quote the 1973 Programme for Britain: "It is necemore are in need of repairs ssary that the next Labour government treat housing as a high priority" , and point out that despite this statement the 1974 manifesto did not contain the basis for a socialist housing policy.

Here they skip over a Relationship What relationship is there between democratically-formulated party policy (reflecting the experience of party members) and parliamentary propaganda (reflecting the requirements of the leadership in its relationships with the international ruling classes)?

The 1974 Labour government did, however, introduce a rent freeze and promoted counVULIC C IS NUPE AREA ONE cil housebuilding.

But within a year the cuts had begun, and still continue despite the appearance of a call for expanded public investment in the Labour Party programme of 1976.

Again there is no mention of the political processes which allow parliament to impose cuts directly opposed to the wishes of the membership of the Not only is there no criticism of the role of the left wing of the Labour Party in parliament, but there is no mention of the existence of the coalition deal with the Liberals (a condition of which was a veto on the planned extension of local authority direct works departments).

Next they examine the growth in the housing budget on which the Labour Party often bases its claims.

Nearly all of this increase can be accounted for by the increase in interest charges imposed on local authorities over recent years, very little of it actually adding to the number or condition of houses.

Only option Under the present subsidy arrangements, the government finds it very difficult to avoid paying these costs, but at the same time its international credit arrangements prevent any increase in the overall budget.

The only remaining option is to shift money from capital programmes (housebuilding, improvements etc) to financing debt charges.

The central section of the pamphlet is likely to be the most useful. It sets out in some detail the impact of the cuts on the working class.

The authors have used the resources of NUPE and the network of tenants' associations to gather information from all over the country.

On the question • 3e FIGHT THE CITE THE CUP SA authors show how the 1974 package of measures to buy off the wave of working class mili. tancy which kicked out the Heath government.

Since then, however, the freeze has been taken off private and housing association rents, and council rents have been forced up by cynical manipula. tions of the subsidy system., Increases in rents have gone hand in hand with a series of attacks on the services given to council tenants.

Repairs and maintenance work have been cut back and modernisation programmes have been reduced.

Harrassment of tenants in arrears with rent has increased.

Often these reductions lead to conflicts between tenants and council workers, when the latter get the blame for the politicians' decisions.

The authors recognise this, but fail to put forward the demand for elected committees of tenants and council workers to open the books on councils' housing programmes.

This is the only way that the working class can combine the Tory leader Thatcher

Smokescreen

Although there are many positive features of such a policy, in practice it has been a smokescreen behind which the cuts have gone on unabated.

The rehabilitation programmes themselves-improvement grants, municipalisation, council mortgages-have all been cut recently.

PHOTO: John Sturrock, Report Peter Shore technical knowledge of the housing workers with the day to day experience of the tenants.

The 1974 Labour government gave a boost to council housebuilding but by July 1976 the brakes were slammed on.

All new tenders were frozen for a month while Shore searched for a rationale by which to cut the programmes.

He came up with the vicious system of "priority areas" which pretends to have isolated the areas in greatest need.

In a number of speeches around this time, Labour politicians spouted about shifting resources towards rehabilitation of older housing.

Fisher However, even the level of building and rehabilitation allowed under the IMF cuts have not been achieved.

This is due in part to the May 1977 election of Tories to many of Britain's town halls, and in part to a new system of financial controls which penalises councils which overspend their budgets, which has inevitably led to underspending in many areas.

threads The effect of these cuts on employment has been immense.

Record levels of unemployment exist in the building industry and a wave of redundancies is sweeping the town halls.

In the final section the authors attempt to draw out the main threads of current housing policy.

The central theme of this section is the turn away from In order to achieve this the government has developed the so-called intermediate tenuresthe housing associations, co-ops, equity sharing-as steps along the way from renting to owning.

Every step along this road means an increase in housing cost.

The authors make a few hesitant steps towards a socialist criticism of these policies.

Conclusions

They point to the declining productivity of the building industry, and to the failure of the private market to provide adequate housing at reasonable prices.

But the conclusions that they draw reflect the contradictions of the situation that leads to the need for this kind of pamphlet.

After a ritual call on the TUC to "debate the housing situation", they go on to call for Trades Councils and tenants groups to examine focal authority housing plans and to take "appropriate action".

What they mean by appropriate action is not made clear.

There are of course massive probiems to be overcome in building unity between tenants and workers which can only be achieved by building committees to open the books of the authorities, which would draw up plans based on their own assessment of housing needs.

Hold back

This leads on immediately to the questions of democracy in the Labour Party, and nationalisation of the building monopolies, if these plans are to be implemented by Labour councils.

The authors have to hold back from such explicit conclusions in case the readers ask embarrassing questions about democracy in NUPE.

Workers and activists in housing and community groups should study this pamphlet and draw the lessons of its strengths and weaknesses.

A strong proletarian struggle on housing will only be achieved by overcoming the kind of contradictions it contains.

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JULIALISI "KESS, Meanesaa! 17 June, 14: 8 AD STRIAL NEVES P32040-S26: 19-0/0/D0: S9P:-420/2 80:

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public provision, towards the private sector.