What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Labour has set out plans to build one million genuinely affordable homes over ten years to restore the principle that a decent home is a "right not a privilege".

The party would change the definition of “affordable rent” which currently means 80% of market rates - pricing out the vast majority.

Today they will unveil plans to allow councils to borrow in order to build and an English Sovereign Land Trust which would involve compulsory purchase powers to be able to buy land for housebuilding more cheaply.

In an announcement to flesh out commitments made in the general election campaign last year, Labour will reveal plans to build homes on a scale not seen since the 1970s with the majority of those for social rent.

Labour will pledge to help those caught in the middle - currently too well off to qualify for social housing but too poor to be able to buy a home.

(Image: iStock Unreleased)

As well as increasing homes for social rent, they are also proposing so-called living rent homes which will have rents set at no more than a third of average local household incomes aimed at key workers, young people and low to middle income families.

They also want to introduce what they are calling FirstBuy homes, low-cost ownership homes whose mortgage payments are no more than a third of average local household incomes.

It comes ahead of local elections next month in which affordable housing is likely to be a big concern - especially in London where Labour hopes to win three councils from the Tories.

(Image: PA)

A report published earlier this week showed that half of the millennial generation, born between 1981 and 2000, may still be renting in their 40s, and third could become “retiree renters”.

Jeremy Corbyn said ahead of today’s launch: “When housing has become a site of speculation for a wealthy few, leaving the many unable to access a decent, secure home, something has gone seriously wrong.

“Luxury flats proliferate across our big cities, while social housing is starved of investment and too many people are living in dangerous accommodation at the mercy of rogue landlords.

“We need to restore the principle that a decent home is a right owed to all, not a privilege for the few. And the only way to deliver on that right for everyone, regardless of income, is through social housing.

(Image: Getty)

“When the post-war Labour government built hundreds of thousands of council houses in a single term in office, they transformed millions of people’s lives.”

Labour’s proposals have been welcomed by the housing sector with David Orr, Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation, describing it as an “important package of measures” which includes “many policies to welcome, especially the £4bn in grants for affordable homes and cheaper access to land.”

Terrie Alafat CBE, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “In recent years the definition of affordable housing has been stretched to breaking point for many people – the time is right for a national debate on what genuinely affordable housing should look like in all parts of the country.”

(Image: PA)

It comes as a Commons committee calls for properties to be confiscated from landlords who break the law.

MPs say the most vulnerable tenants need greater legal protections from retaliatory evictions, rent increases and harassment so they are fully empowered to pursue complaints about repairs and maintenance in their homes.

The housing committee is calling on the government to give more powers to councils landlords whose businesses depend on exploiting the most vulnerable.

They want the Government to tackle the ‘clear power imbalance’ in parts of the sector, with tenants often unwilling to complain to landlords about conditions in their homes such as excess cold, mould or faulty wiring.