'Lower stamp duty won't help': State of Lambeth's social housing at centre of election debate

Parliamentary candidates from Labour and the Conservatives clashed over the state of social housing in South London at a hustings in Waterloo on Monday evening (June 17). Florence Eshalomi, Labour candidate for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, admitted Labour-led Lambeth Council's housing department had 'challenges', but said government funding cuts meant it was impossible for the local authority to fix the problem.

Aarti Joshi, the Conservative candidate for the area, accused Labour-led Lambeth and Southwark councils of leaving people in 'unacceptable conditions' and not doing enough to house families in empty properties they own.

Meanwhile Chris French, Liberal Democrat candidate for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, said more effort should be made to work with big investors like Legal and General to create affordable housing on development sites in the area.

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Catherine Dawkins, the area's Green candidate, criticised the local Labour councils for approving the demolition of existing social housing through estate rebuilds and said the Green Party was committed to providing 150,000 council homes per year and ending Right to Buy.

Eshalomi, who has been MP for the area since 2019, also highlighted the Labour Party's housing commitments such as expanding Awaab's Law - which requires social landlords to investigate and fix reported health hazards within specific time frames - to the private rental sector.

She added: "I want to see an incoming government working with Labour councils like Lambeth so that they can borrow at a reasonable rate and build the type of council housing I grew up in, working with a Labour mayor to make sure that we look at that question of affordability, because affordability should be based on your income.

"It's all well and good the Conservatives saying they are going to lower stamp duty for first-time buyers, [but] to buy in this constituency you need a deposit of around £100,000. Lower stamp duty isn't going to help them."

Joshi said she believed property prices wouldn't come down until the rate of house building went up and said the government wanted to increase the construction of homes on brownfield sites.

She added: "The Conservative government has committed to building 1.6 million properties in the next parliament if it is elected. [...] I strongly believe that unless you have a home to call your own, it's quite difficult to feel human."

French added: "Most new builds I've seen around are student accommodation, mainly for international students who are coming across. I get there's a model necessary for universities around how they've built their fees. [But] I look at them and think that could actually be housing for people who live in the area. It's a pretty transient population and it's built to just generate income, not any social value."

Due to boundary changes, whoever wins in July will be the first MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green. The seat includes most of the now abolished constituency of Vauxhall.

Eshalomi won the former seat with 56.1 per cent of the vote share at the last election in 2019. The Liberal Democrats came second with 21.3 per cent and the Conservatives in third with 16.7 per cent. The Greens finished fourth.

The candidates were also quizzed on education, health, culture and accessibility by members of the audience at the auditorium of Oasis Church in Waterloo. Representatives from Reform and the Social Democratic Party were invited to the event but failed to respond to invitations.

Got a story? Email robert.firth@reachplc.com.

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