• HOUSING is at the intersection of so many of our underlying social, economic and climate injustices.

How tragic for millions of British citizens that it has taken so long and gone so wrong, before widespread recognition across the political spectrum has been reached and earnest claims of redress are being offered.

There is now, at least, cross-party commitment to build more homes. It is, then, a question of means and beneficiaries. And that’s where it’s particularly difficult for the Tories.

In hock to not-in-my-back-yard voters and big housebuilder donors, manipulating supply to inflate prices, perpetuating a system of free-market failure and creating a culture that sees housing as a commodity rather than a basic human right, they have neither the credibility nor will to manoeuvre.

Similar comparisons can made with other sectors of infrastructure, the most obvious ones being water, energy, and transport.

All have particular sets of problems, but one common source for their failings; the corrupted free-market ideology of the Conservative party.

This should present plenty of scope for Labour to focus on during the forthcoming election campaign.

Driven by their enduring sense of social mission, commitments to building 1.5million affordable homes over a first term become more credible when presented in conjunction with proposals for fundamental planning reform and desire to generate economic growth.

Given the perceived need for change, the voting public should be open to a set of reforming policies, from increasing pension fund housing sector investment (far higher in the Netherlands and elsewhere), and introducing a system of land value tax, revitalising local authority planning departments, giving them the means to do a proper job of urban planning instead of being merely a form of development control and damage limitation, as well as locking-in more land value uplift for the greater good, not just shareholder profit. Along with the introduction a properly fit-for-purpose Renters (Reform) Bill.

Even in lieu of an immediate major uplift in public investment, such reforms could still have a real impact on tackling housing injustice.

If all this can be achieved an inflexion point will have indeed been reached, giving future generations of politicians a legacy of enduring worth to build upon. Eyes on the prize.

JEF SMITH, NW5