Britain’s socialist Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn vowed to end Britain’s rough-sleeping crisis if elected prime minister by “immediately” purchasing 8000 homes for people with a history of sleeping on the streets, Morning Star Online said on January 29.
The plan, announced that day on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, would see deals struck with housing associations to provide homes for the estimated 4750 people currently sleeping on Britain’s streets.
Last year, Labour’s election manifesto pledged 4000 homes via a similar scheme. The doubling of the pledge is likely a response to new figures showing rough-sleeping has risen for the seventh year running.
Corbyn vowed that Labour would give local councils new powers to seize empty homes, saying: “There is something grossly insulting about the idea you would build some luxury block and deliberately keep it empty.”
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