Almost 120,000 children live in temporary accommodation today. The number of families living in temporary homes rose from 50,000 in 2011–12 to 72,000 in 2015–16. Both numbers feature prominently in a new report from the public accounts committee (PAC), which slams the government’s housing policies for relying far too heavily on a broken market and the foolish belief that private developers will provide the solution.

Justine Greening admitted at a social mobility conference it was better to be rich and mediocre than bright and poor

In the PAC’s scathing State of the Nation, the Department for Communities and Local Government is criticised for failing to deliver on its promise to alleviate the housing crisis: “Despite acknowledging that the housing market in England is ‘broken’, it remains dependent on the existing market, which is dominated by a handful of private developers, to realise its ambition.” This ambition, to build a million new homes between 2015 and 2020, is unlikely to be achieved – damningly, the PAC report points out that “even if this [were] achieved, the department acknowledges that it will not come close to meeting the actual level of housing need, so problems of affordability and homelessness are likely to persist for years to come.”

In the same week, it was reported that “the bank of mum and dad” now lends so much money it would rank as the ninth biggest mortgage lender in the country if the phenomenon operated as a financial institution. Parents are expected to lend £6.5bn to children this year to secure their offspring a footing on the property ladder. Despite the cutesy name, this is rank inequality in action. The housing system is so broken, inheritance is the only answer. As a result, the gulf between the haves and have nots grows ever further: you can be a poor kid, who did brilliantly at university and earns twice the median wage, yet still fail to gather the cash to afford a mortgage.

When the education secretary, Justine Greening, reportedly admitted at a social mobility conference that when it comes to life chances it was better to be rich and mediocre than bright and poor, few were surprised: Britain is one of the least socially mobile places in Europe, if not the world. But housing in particular compounds this inequality, cementing your social status with cold hard cash. If you’re clever but started out poor, you’ll be renting forever if nothing changes. If you’re unremarkable but have minted parents, you can look forward to a life of DIY and Dulux colour swatches.

If this election is to be fought on housing it’s clear the Conservatives have no answer, for very obvious reasons. Conservative voters are, by and large, the people who have profited most from the housing crisis: landlords; home owners who’ve seen their houses turn into profit-making vehicles; employees working in finance and property development. Conservative voters are generally wealthier and can afford to mitigate the effects of the housing crisis on their offspring. And despite only 2% of the population being landlords, an eye-watering 39% of Tory MPs make money from renting out property.

Labour has promised a million new homes if elected, half of which will be council homes or housing association properties. The Conservatives meanwhile have presided over a fire sale of council homes, through increasing the right-to-buy discount and now attempting to force through the mandatory sale of “high-value” council properties, a move opposed by town halls across the country.

One story this week shows the need for council homes more than any other – the news that Islington council has spent more than £6.2m buying back homes that were sold for £1.3m under right to buy. Britain needs council homes, and far too many have been sold for a pittance then bought or rented back for eye-watering sums. Council housing pays for itself over a lifetime, in terms of reduced housing benefit, healthier, happier families and reduced strain on local health and social services. The Conservatives have declared war on social housing, and if they’re voted back in on 8 June it may be time to start writing an obituary for British council housing.

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