Gen Kitchen MP: This Labour Government will deliver the housing local people need

That means across Wellingborough, Rushden and the surrounding area, hundreds of people will be in desperate need of a home at any one time. This will include families with young children facing imminent homelessness, women who have fled domestic abuse now facing an uncertain future and young care leavers who have little support.

I know this all too well. Every week my office deals with people in situations like this. My team helps as much as they can but ultimately housing decisions are down to the local authority. A North Northants council officer recently declared ‘need is not being met’ and a former Tory NNC councillor admitted they couldn’t ‘even put a dent in it’.

And it is not just social housing tenants that are struggling to find secure accommodation. The last Tory Government left us with a housing crisis which has seen private rents soar, with little security for tenants, millions locked out of home ownership and far too many people children living in temporary accommodation.

This is why I’m thrilled that the Labour Government has announced an additional £2 billion for social and affordable housing for 2026-27. This isn’t just an empty promise, it will be backed by reforms in a Bill I have been working on: the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. This will speed up the delivery of the Government’s plan to build 1.5m safe and decent homes and fast-track planning decisions on major infrastructure projects.

The Government has also committed to fund a £625 million package for skills in construction which will result in thousands more British skilled workers to build the homes and infrastructure we so desperately need. This measure means we won’t be relying on legal skilled immigration but training home grown talent.

The previous government tinkered around the edges of the housing crisis with half-hearted policy that did little to alleviate the problem. Labour has a funded plan and a way to deliver it.

A secure, affordable home is the foundation on which stable lives are built. I have seen from the many people who attend my advice surgeries how insecure housing has a knock-on effect in every area of a person’s life. We shouldn’t have children living in hotel rooms with no space to play or do their homework, tenants shouldn’t live in fear of an eviction notice coming through their letter box and young people starting out in life shouldn’t feel that homeownership is out of their reach.

The new measures from the Labour Government will go along way to ensuring secure housing is a reality for all.