A landlord should never be the homelessness minister

Plus: Our summer reads in a bumper The Lead Digest, ReformWatch including the Reform UK Board election and latest from The Lead North.

Rushanara Ali speaking in the Commons Pic: UK Parliament/Flickr

Here’s a brilliant idea; one this government seems to have taken to heart: let’s put a fox in charge of henhouse policy.

Today, The i revealed that Labour’s Homelessness Minister, Rushanara Ali, moved on four tenants from her property and promptly relisted it with a £700-a-month rent hike, from £3,300 to £4,000. That’s a 20 per cent increase, just as the Renters’ Reform Bill (designed to stop this exact behaviour) inches towards Royal Assent. Not illegal, just exquisitely timed. A masterclass in doing the wrong thing at precisely the right moment. Well done, Minister.

It is hard to imagine a clearer conflict between personal interest and public responsibility. The role of the Homelessness Minister is to prevent evictions, promote housing security, and protect renters from being priced out of their homes. That the minister responsible for this is simultaneously pushing people into homelessness is almost unwritable.

The truth is, of course, that Ali should never have been appointed to this role in the first place. Her status as a landlord should have disqualified her entirely. Yes, ministers are allowed to own property. Some (too many) are even landlords. But placing a landlord in charge of homelessness policy is fundamentally at odds with the role’s purpose. Landlords, by definition, view housing as an asset, something to generate income. Tackling homelessness requires a completely different mindset: one that treats housing as a right, not a commodity.

A landlord has a direct financial stake in rent levels, eviction rules, housing policy, and tenancy law. But as the homelessness minister, you are expected to regulate these levers to support vulnerable people, many of whom are stuck in insecure rental arrangements, or shut out of the private rental market altogether.

Homelessness isn’t some random misfortune. It’s the result of decades of policy failure: chronic underinvestment in social housing, deregulation of the rental sector, and welfare that no longer covers the cost of essentials. One of the most common routes into homelessness is being evicted from a private tenancy.

This is also the brutal reality of landlordism. While there is space for a well-regulated rental sector in the UK, far too much of it has been overtaken by speculative wealth. Property has become a means of passive income, with many landlords benefiting from soaring demand and constricted supply, while their tenants face skyrocketing rents, insecure tenancies, and the constant threat of eviction.

Ali’s defence, that she had planned to sell the property, only to re-let it at a higher price when that failed, also exposes how broken the system is. In today’s housing market, one person’s life-shattering eviction is another’s investment strategy.

Do ministers like Ali have any grasp of how destabilising, stressful, and miserable eviction really is?

It’s not just moving house, it’s the sudden threat of homelessness through no fault of your own. It’s the scramble to find a new place with even higher rent, wondering if your commute is still doable, if your kids can stay in the same school, or if you’ll be pushed into a different town altogether. This is the same practice that the Renters’ Reform Bill, which she supposedly champions, is meant to stop.

Landlords already have more than enough sway in Britain’s housing debate. As of August last year, Thirteen per cent of MPs – 85 in total – moonlit as landlords, collectively raking in income from at least 184 rental properties. Around one in ten Labour MPs rent out homes, and a full quarter of the Tory party does the same. Add to that the powerful landlord lobbies stalking Parliament and party conferences, cash-rich and endlessly persuasive, convincing MPs that ignoring tenants’ pleas for a working boiler somehow qualifies as a tough day in the office.

What renters need isn’t another landlord in the room, but someone willing to challenge that imbalance at the highest levels of government.

I’ve written before that Labour’s Renters’ Reform Bill signalled a government serious about building a fairer housing system. Today, I feel a bit silly. Labour’s hypocrisy on homelessness drags us backwards. If the government wants to be the party of renters, and it truly wants to fix Britain’s broken housing system, it must show that the same vested interests who broke it will no longer be allowed to write the rules.■

About the author: Zoë Grünewald is Westminster Editor at The Lead and a freelance political journalist and broadcaster. Zoë then worked as a policy and politics reporter at the New Statesman, before joining the Independent as a political correspondent. When not writing about politics and policy, she is a regular commentator on TV and radio and a panellist on the Oh God What Now podcast.

The Lead is keeping an eye on Reform UK and their fellow travellers. Get in touch on X, Bluesky and Instagram or email ella@thelead.uk with tips and stories. We especially want to hear from readers whose local council is now run by Farage’s followers.

• Unsurprisingly, Reform UK’s policy advisers’ opinions on policy do not, erm, align with official party policy. The party’s new justice adviser, Vanessa Frake, made a surprisingly reasonable statement regarding transgender people and prisons. She told The Times that she did not believe trans women should be automatically removed from women's prisons. “I’m not an expert on trans people, all that I know is that everybody should be treated with humanity and decency,” she said. The party disagrees, asked by Politics Home whether Frake’s view reflected Reform Party policy on trans prisoners, a Reform spokesperson replied: “No.” Farage has since took to X to clear things up, too, writing: "I have never supported men in women’s prisons."

• The Reform mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, Luke Campbell, has pulled out of an agreement uniting Yorkshire’s four metro mayors, which would allow them to work more closely together on business investment, promoting the county and transport. Why? Net zero.

• The party is currently electing three members of the Party Board, who will be involved in serious decision making. Among the candidates is broadcaster-cum-politician Darren Grimes, the “unashamedly politically inexperienced” Alexander Hitchmough, staunch Farage follower Gawain Towler and David “The Buck” Buckley who is “from the real world” and whose slogan, “the buck stops with me,” is painfully bad.

• The police and crime commissioner for Leicestershire and Rutland has defected from the Conservatives to Reform UK, giving the party its first PCC. He believes the “dark heart of wokeness” needed to be cut out of the criminal justice system. Cool!

Keeping a watchful eye on Reform takes time and effort, become a subscriber to help us do this.

The Lead Digest

August is the sleepiest of the summer months, with the dwindling weather and the slight sense that something is coming to a close. If you’re lucky enough to be escaping the humdrum via summer holiday this month — or even if you’re not — we have something to help you along the way.

Here at The Lead, we like to consume just as much as we create, which is why we spend a little time each week rounding up our favourite stories, books, podcasts and films to offer our readers a sample of the work that informs our world. This week’s digest is beefier than usual, with our top picks for reading, watching and listening your way across the ocean and back.

Articles for the airport

While we’re all for taking a break from politics, it wouldn’t be right not to share some of our favourite pieces of journalism of late. Give these a read in the queue for security.

Ed enjoyed this great article in the Leicester Gazette in which journalist Rhys Everquill peers into the world of far-right ‘migrant hunters’ and YouTube ‘auditors’ whose schtick is to film and provoke police, security guards, council officers, protesters, migrants and more, in public.

Luke spent four days in a field at Kendal Calling’s 20th year. Although he didn’t get to see much of the outside world in that time, he did write about it. You can read his review of the festival on Blog Preston.

Padraig recommends Emily Hart’s interview with translator Frank Wynne, who recently brought the Argentinian comic strip Mafalda to life in English. The South American comic strip character was often a subtle voice of subversion and dissent during the continent's turbulent 60s and 70s, challenging the dictators and generals through the perceptive gaze of a clever six-year-old girl. Wynne discusses the history of satire and how to translate topical but evergreen jokes from one of the world's best-loved comic characters.

Podcasts for the plane

There’s no time like a plane ride to plug in your headphones and listen to someone other than your holiday companions babble on about a new topic. Especially if the lights are off.

Terrified of AI? Zoe had the pleasure of interviewing Alex Hern from The Economist about whether AI will kill us all on this week's episode of Oh God What Now?. She says it was in equal parts frightening and comforting. Gardeners needn’t worry.

Zoe also appeared on today’s episode of The Bunker, where she discussed whether Nigel Farage’s rhetoric matches reality and if it will swing votes in the next election (and not for the first time).

Natalie listened to Tortoise Media’s Slowcast episode about a tragic death in Jersey. She says it's a fascinating exploration of the complicated work economy of Jersey, unpicking the island's reputation as a playground for the wealthy – and where that leaves the migrant service workers who keep everything running.

The Booker Prize longlist was launched last week, and of course Little Atoms has an interview with one of the favourites. Clare Adams' Love Forms tells the story of a Trinidadian woman who cannot forget the child she was forced to give up for adoption. She tells Neil about the inspiration for her “quietly devastating” novel.

If music is more your thing, Ella went to the Jazz Café Festival last week, where she saw Brighter Days, the genre-bending dance music collective from London. Their debut album, Audio Sunrise, is good from start to finish. Ideal for the summer.

Books for the beach

The best thing about books is that they’re timeless. Doesn’t matter where you are or what’s going on the world, a novel from 1866 can feel just as relevant (if not more) than one published last month. Allow yourself to switch off and fall head first into a different world. What else are holidays for?

Padraig will be taking And Notre Dame Was Burning, the hot-off-the-press debut novel by Miriam Robinson, to the beach. Written as a series of letters and journal entries, the book traces the story of a tempestuous relationship from early infatuation to crushing betrayal. He’s also rediscovering the great Edith Wharton, author of The Age Of Innocence, via her short and lesser-known novel Summer (appropriately enough).

We can also recommend Paula Akpan's ground-breaking debut book, When We Ruled. It’s an immersive history of the African queens and warriors we were never taught about at school, and you can read an excerpt here.

As Natalie found earlier this year, travelling with a small child is no easy feat. For many parents, travelling without one is equally difficult. Alex Bollen’s book Motherdom: Breaking Free from Bad Science and Good Mother Myths is great for any new mums dealing with the anxiety and guilt that comes with raising a human being. Here’s another excerpt.

At The Lead we’re dedicated to telling stories beyond the bright lights of London and Manchester (although sometimes we still will). We have dedicated journalists and titles in Blackpool, Lancashire, Calderdale, Teesside and Southport bringing in-depth news and features twice-a-week to those communities. You can subscribe to support our vital local journalism.

• A man who played a key role in encouraging people to riot in Southport has failed in a bid to have his sentence cut. The taxi driver used TikTok and Telegram accounts to whip up hatred and set the original time and location for the riot.

• A sacked Preston College teacher who made national headlines and is pursuing an employment tribunal is being backed by a evangelical Christian group who oppose homosexuality, transgenderism and sex outside of marriage.

• Blackpool Council has been rated ‘inadequate’ over its responsibilities to ensure the town’s most vulnerable people have access to adult social care and support. The Blackpool Lead will have further detail on what's gone wrong and what the fallout is in its weekend edition.

• A failed fire safety company, set up by Cleveland Fire Authority, is going to have to write off tens of thousands of pounds of debt. While Leigh also reports on the emails between Mayor Houchen and Wes Streeting, although it was a very one-sided conversation…

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Thanks for reading today’s Thursday newsletter. It’s great to have you with us. Keep your eyes on your inbox this weekend as we launch our first film premiere. The Lead is proud to host the exclusive showing of Where I Can See Them, the powerful new documentary short from Olivier Award nominated director Lanre Malaolu. The film explores the traumatic legacy of stop-and-search on young Black men, just at a time when technological advancements threaten to “supercharge” abuses of police powers.

On Saturday, paid subscribers will receive a bonus note from Senior Editor Natalie Morris explaining why we have chosen to platform this piece of work, and digging into the very real threats that come with the unchallenged encroachment of state powers on our human rights. If this is an issue you care about, become a paid subscriber to The Lead to read this article and help us continue our reporting at this crucial time.

Ed, Zoë, Ella, Luke, Natalie, Padraig, and The Lead team.