What does Angela Rayner’s Wobble have to do with the Rental Crisis in South London?
The Mail on Sunday published an article last weekend in which it claims Deputy Leader Angela Rayner came close to quitting her role as Housing Minister, threatening to do so a number of times, consumed by doubts over whether she could deliver on Labour’s promise to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029 – something that she allegedly called an ‘impossible target’.
This is according to Lord Ashcroft’s new, updated biography of Sir Keir Starmer, ‘Red Flag’, and is a claim that has been denied by Rayner and her department – but nevertheless, it has turned up in The Telegraph since, and with Ashcroft’s ‘Red Flag’ now published as of April 29, it might be unlikely to go away – particularly if progress to meet this target slips.
Despite denials, it would not seem too far-fetched to imagine that the pressure of achieving this headline policy could have pushed her to the brink of walking away – particularly as it is not a dissimilar target to that set and missed (in spectacular fashion) by successive governments for a couple of decades; whether they call it 1.5 million homes in five years, or 300,000 homes a year, it’s the same number.
According to Ashcroft, it took an intervention from former Prime Minister Tony Blair to keep her in the game.
This political drama might seem far removed from everyday life in Streatham Hill, but it strikes at the heart of one of the biggest issues facing South London renters and landlords: the chronic shortage of homes, and the spiking rental costs that follow suit as a result.
The Price of Inaction: Rents Rise 11% in South London
In April, the Evening Standard reported that rents in London rose by 11% over the past year, according to ONS figures. In real terms, that means tenants are paying hundreds more per month, whilst landlords face increasing pressure from increased taxes, mortgages and changing legislation, causing some to exit the market, further reducing housing supply.
The reasons are complex but interlinked: a lack of new supply, surging demand, inadequate investment in social housing, and policy uncertainty across central and local government. Nowhere are these issues more visible than in South London, where rents have in fact risen faster and further than other parts of the country.
From Clapham to Crystal Palace, the private rented sector is absorbing more than it is designed to handle. With waiting lists for social housing stretching ever longer, renters who would once have relied on council or housing association homes are forced to turn instead to the private market, where choice is limited, rents are high, and competition is fierce.
Why Angela Rayner’s Wobble Matters to Lambeth
Rayner’s near-resignation is more than political theatre. It speaks to the deep anxiety within Labour as to whether its housing targets are achievable, especially with planning bottlenecks, local opposition, and years of underinvestment.
They are the unruffled duck that glides serenely across the still surface of the pond, whose legs are nevertheless thrashing frantically away beneath the surface… except, one would argue, they do not look unruffled… they look somewhat perturbed, and particularly since the results back from local elections held across the nation last Thursday.
Rayner is not just one of the party’s most senior figures (and Deputy Leader, at that); she is the Housing Minister! If even she is unsure whether 1.5 million homes can be delivered, it raises important questions. Where will these homes come from? Who will build them? Will they be affordable? And crucially, will we see the pressure on renters in areas like South London eased?
The answer may lie less in grand national targets, and more in targeted local schemes, like the one currently being rolled out by Lambeth Council...
Lambeth’s Empty Homes Strategy: A Local Solution
In February, Lambeth Council announced its Empty Homes and Voids Action Plan, an ambitious attempt to get a grip on local housing availability. The goal? To bring hundreds of vacant properties back into use, both from council stock and from the private sector.
According to the council, over 5,500 people applied for homelessness support in Lambeth last year alone – a number which sadly seems set to rise. Over 40,000 are already on the borough’s waiting list, and 4,700 homeless families are already living in temporary accommodation.
Meanwhile, a significant number of properties in the borough remain empty – often due to dilapidation, sometimes because of absentee landlords, and sometimes down to bureaucratic delays.
Cllr Danny Adilypour, the Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing, said:
“Housing is in short supply in Lambeth. Our housing waiting list is long and the lack of affordable homes puts real pressure on our residents and our local communities.”
To tackle the problem, the council’s strategy includes:
- Faster repairs and re-letting of council homes once tenants move out.
- Tracking private empty homes using council tax data.
- Encouraging residents to report empty properties, which the council can then investigate.
- Implementing a 100% council tax premium on homes left empty without good reason.
- Building 600 new affordable homes on council-owned land as part of a wider development strategy (to build 2000 homes by 2030).
This is not a silver bullet – but it is at least a serious attempt to deal with supply at borough level. And crucially, many of the homes brought back into circulation are family-sized social housing properties, which will directly reduce the pressure on private landlords and agents.
More Social Housing Means More Private Rental Sector Stability
At Your Home Managed, a lettings agency based in Streatham Hill and covering South London (and even beyond), we have seen first-hand how the market has become squeezed.
Rising rents are not just a tenant issue however; they are a market stability issue. People assume that agents and landlords want to see ever-increasing rents – but that is not accurate. Incomes have not kept pace with rent inflation, which means arrears are rising, turnover of tenancies is increasing, and landlords are carrying more risk. For agents, too, an unstable market means harder decisions and more intense management.
If councils like Lambeth succeed in adding homes back into the system, especially at that more affordable end of the market, it benefits everyone.
More supply means more choice for private renters, less rental price inflation, and less pressure on the private sector to fill the gap left by social housing.
In other words, a balanced housing system is a healthier one. One where the private rented sector complements, rather than provides, the social housing system.
A Local South London Property Market in Need of Confidence
There’s no question that building 1.5 million homes would make a huge difference – even in South London where you might wonder ‘where on earth can they build?!’. They don’t need to be built right here to ease the local housing pressure… 15,000 new homes constructed a little further down the tube line would go a long way to address the housing need – particularly if Lambeth Council succeeds in their ambition to see 2000 new homes, including 600 affordable homes, in the borough on council land by 2030.
But either way, for many renters in South London, the timeline on those homes is just too long. They need relief now.
Local councils acting decisively, like Lambeth with its Empty Homes strategy, can be a blueprint for what’s possible even in the absence of national consensus.
That said, confidence from the top still matters. Rayner’s doubts, while understandable, highlight just how precarious the politics of housing has become – and no doubt, even if true, is why the denial has been made and why she has publicly said there is ‘no excuse’ not to meet the target by the 2029 election.
If Labour is to deliver on its pledges, it must back bold ideas at the local level, and support councils willing to act creatively and decisively.
A Call to Angela Rayner as well as Lambeth Council to Keep Going!
For renters struggling with affordability issues, for those landlords out there trying to maintain fair rents in a turbulent market, and even for us agents working to match homes with the right tenants, the message is clear: we can’t afford for you to stop now!
More homes – of every type, but especially social and affordable homes – are essential.
Local initiatives like Lambeth’s show that there is a will to find a way. What’s needed now is the political courage to back them up, both locally and nationally, and the clarity of purpose to follow through.
