Housing

The Conservative-run council is failing residents. With homelessness up 100% in three years, and the council's own budget admitting Temporary Accommodation costs are the "single hardest element to predict or control," their approach is clearly not working. 

• Liberal Democrats will implement a cross-departmental action plan focused on prevention, not crisis management.

Last year, 7,306 households contacted the council for help with housing insecurity. Shockingly, 5,253 of them—over 70%—were turned away without recorded support. 

• Liberal Democrats will properly fund a dedicated Housing Advice and Prevention Service to ensure every resident who asks for help actually receives it.

We reject the idea that council tenants are second-class citizens. Currently, 30.90% of council homes fail the Decent Homes Standard—far worse than neighbours like Ealing (16.63%). Non-emergency repairs are slower than the London average, and tenant satisfaction has flatlined at 59%. 

• Liberal Democrats will work with tenants to create a binding "Tenants' Charter" guaranteeing faster repairs, a clear plan to eliminate all non-decent homes, and a real voice in how their housing service is run.

The current council is forced to spend millions on expensive private emergency housing because they haven't built enough social homes. The council's own figures show £8.5m of proposed savings rely on reducing temporary accommodation costs—yet they have no credible plan to do so. 

• Liberal Democrats will accelerate our council housebuilding programme to provide secure, genuinely affordable homes and save residents' money in the long run.

While the council inspects its own homes, there is shockingly little public data on conditions in the private rented sector—meaning we simply don't know how many tenants are living in unsafe, unlicensed HMOs. 

• Liberal Democrats will introduce a dedicated enforcement team to proactively inspect properties, compel landlords to meet legal standards, and publish an annual report on private sector housing conditions.

Major regeneration is planned for estates like Avondale and Hayes Town Centre, backed by over £212m of investment. But too often, residents are consulted at the end of the process, not the beginning. 

Liberal Democrats will make resident consultation meaningful from day one, ensuring new developments are well-designed, sustainable, and genuinely meet local needs.

Right to Buy is selling off our social housing stock at an unsustainable rate—the budget report notes a spike in applications whenever discounts change, showing the constant drain on homes we desperately need. Meanwhile, developers sit on planning permissions, contributing to a structural slowdown in housing growth.

• Liberal Democrats will lobby government relentlessly for the power to suspend Right to Buy in Hillingdon and for 'use-it-or-lose-it' powers to force developers to build or get out of the way by disposing of the site at the price originally paid to the council, a social housing provider or equivalent body.