TACKLING CORNWALL'S HOUSING CRISIS
I have a proven record of pressuring both local and national government, and the Labour Party leadership on the housing crisis we face in Truro and Falmouth.
I am active in both the Labour Campaign for Council Housing and the Labour Housing Group. By working with them and the other Cornish CLPs, I was instrumental in getting our radical housing motion passed unanimously at National Conference.
Articles I have contributed to or authored on housing:
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"An under-provision of council and social housing has become a Housing Crisis"
If you select me as your candidate, housing in Cornwall will be a top priority when I am the MP. I will force it up the Government’s agenda and I will push for Cornwall to have the powers we need to bring in solutions we are crying out for.
Finding truly affordable Housing in Cornwall feels like such an intractable problem.
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Rising numbers of Airbnbs, holiday lets, second homes and in some areas houses converted to student lets has put intense pressure on the private rented sector in Cornwall. Add to this an under-provision of council/social housing and a dire shortage of temporary and emergency accommodation and it’s become a housing crisis. People on local Cornish wages (which are 20% less than the national average) can’t afford to live in Cornish houses (which cost far higher than the national average).
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I’ve been working hard to pressurise Cornwall Council, national government and the Labour Party leadership to see this for the emergency that it is and develop solutions.
"Labour Housing Group welcomes Jayne Kirkham’s candidature. We know Jayne as someone who has consistently fought for improving housing for people living in Cornwall."
Labour Housing Group
I have co-authored motions to both Cornwall and Falmouth Town Council calling a Housing Emergency and encouraged that to spread throughout councils in Cornwall.
I am a member of both the Labour Campaign for Council Housing and the Labour Housing Group and worked with both groups and 5 of the other Cornish Constituency Labour Parties to author and composite a motion on Housing that was passed virtually unanimously at the national Labour Party Conference in September 2021. It was a wide ranging motion calling for the provision of 100,000 council houses and 50,000 social houses per year, a Housing First solution to homelessness, ending Right to Buy and putting measures in place for second home ownership.
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To watch my speech on video, please tap or click here. The motion is also published in full here and a shorter version summarised here.
I am currently working on a ‘First Homes Not Second Homes’ campaign with Labour MP, Luke Pollard and Leader of the Labour Group on Plymouth City Council, Tudor Evans.
