The news that council tax is set to double for some homeowners in London certainly grabs the attention. At a glance, yes, it’s disconcerting that in a cost-of-living crisis that seems to be only getting worse, we could be about to pay more for the privilege of living in this very expensive city.
But be not afraid. It’s very likely that this will not apply to you, dear reader. It should be something to pique every Londoner’s anger, but for very different reasons. The 100 per cent council tax hikes, due to come into effect this April, are squarely aimed at those who own more than one home, particularly those who leave a property vacant.
Frankly, a little extra tax is not enough. If I had my way, the immoral practice of leaving a property vacant and those who profit from it would be criminalised. There are over 34,000 “long-term vacant” homes in the capital, per the government, worth more than £20 billion. If you can afford to leave a home without an occupant for years on end, a little bit more tax should be just the start. Houses should be homes for people, not investments to accrue interest. Wealthy owners should cough up and contribute, or sell up.
Absentee investors, many of whom do not reside in the country, have been actively encouraged by developers to buy up homes at artificially inflated prices as investments. Housebuilding companies, who often themselves engage in land banking, have no interest in building homes for locals. Why bother, when they could sell their wares for more to someone who may not even step foot inside the property? It’s a smash-and-grab approach to housebuilding that has hollowed out our city.
If anything, the 100 per cent increase in council tax is akin to putting a plaster on an open wound. Councils in London – and across the country – are in dire straits financially. Their budgets are being eaten out by the prohibitive costs of housing societies most vulnerable, including the thousands families on the brink of homelessness.
With a dwindling stock of already paltry social housing, children are being housed in unsuitable and dangerous places. Damp, vermin infested temporary housing, sometimes little more than a furnished shipping container, where people are effectively warehoused away from public view.
That future generations are being raised in such squalor should be a national shame. Instead, councils pay eyewatering sums for the privilege of placing people in what only the most heartless could reasonably describe as a home.
One in 50 Londoners are currently living in temporary accommodation, costing our local authorities £90 million a month to house them. A child in every classroom in the city is homeless, when averaged out. Now our councils are broke, and taxing empty or second homes is their only recourse.
Extra council tax is an inelegant solution. To really fix the problem, councils would need to return to the model of building their own social housing. The rent charged could then be returned to the community, to fund its amenities and build more homes. In return, people could live somewhere long term in comfort and dignity, put down roots, send their children to school, and contribute back to their society.
Sir Sadiq Khan’s hands are tied when it comes to so many potential solutions to our city’s housing crisis. Our current Labour government, which seems to have forgotten its origins in social democracy and trade unionism, won’t let him impose a much-needed rent freeze and refuses to devolve the ability for councils to depart from the Right to Buy scheme. A little bit more tax, as a treat, could help council’s keep the wolf from the door – for now.
India Block is a former deputy editor of Homes and Property
