Bedford Elections: Communist party candidate says Bedford needs large scale council housing programme

A Kempston West candidate said a large scale council housing programme can reduce the “current housing crisis” in the borough.

Markus Keaney, who is standing for the Communist Party of Britain, believes Bedford Borough Council should build its own housing for social rent below market levels.

“This would benefit not only those who have no-one to turn to but the council,” Markus said.

“It would also discourage profiteering from private landlords, and property developers building houses for private sale.

“I have worked on several of the new developments that have gone up in and around Bedford over the past decade.

“And there is a shocking lack of social housing provision in them.

“Developers will not commit to it of their own accord, so the council should step up, and step in to fill the void,” he said.

Markus said the introduction of ‘Right to Buy’ in the 80s, a collapse in council-house building, and the lifting of rent controls led to the “current housing crisis”.

“Generations of people are stuck paying a significant portion of their income on rent,” he said.

“[They are] unable to save for the ever-increasing deposits needed to get on the housing ladder if they wish to buy, and with little to no security of tenure if they want to remain in the rental sector.

“Large scale council housing programmes can help address both these issues, and I believe we should aspire to them – it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

Markus moved to Kempston from Luton and was politically active while he lived there.

He was twice elected as chair of the Luton South Constituency Labour Party.

And he also stood three times as a Luton Borough Council candidate; once for Labour, and twice for the Communist Party of Britain.

“I took part in successful campaigns to get both Mohammad Yasin MP, and Rachel Hopkins MP elected during my time as a member of the Labour Party, ” Markus said.

He added that he was a member of Luton Palestine Solidarity Campaign that “successfully” lobbied Luton Town Football Club to not renew its contract with a supplier because of its “complicity in Israeli Apartheid”.

“When I commit to a political objective, I can see it through,” he said.

Markus has been out campaigning and he said the response has mostly been “positive”.

“Especially from younger people who feel they are trapped in ‘generation rent’,” he said.

“And those who have taken the time to listen to my reasons for standing.

“I’d like to thank the couple who, after listening to what had motivated me to put myself forward, signed my nomination papers despite not knowing me personally,” he said.

Residents can follow Markus’ campaign on Twitter or Facebook.

“If elected in Kempston West I would seek allies on Bedford Borough Council who were interested in establishing a local equivalent of Foxhall Homes, Luton Borough Council’s wholly-owned housing development company,” Markus said.