MINISTERS have been urged to take advantage of the property market slump and buy up homes for council housing.

MP Jeremy Corbyn (Lab Islington North) condemned "spiv landlords" who receive taxpayers money for renting "rat-infested" homes to people on housing benefit.

Fellow Islington MP Emily Thornberry (Lab Islington South and Finsbury) told the House of Commons that constituents came to her in tears because they could find nowhere affordable to live.

Both MPs called on the Government to take advantage of the credit crunch and buy up properties.

Mr Corbyn said: "Victorian houses have been bought up by landlords at various times and converted into three, four or five flats to absolutely minimal standards - just enough to get through building control regulations - and with no energy efficiency measures and so on."

But councils were placing families in private sector flats - and paying their rent - because of a lack of council homes, he said.

"The rent could be anything from double the local authority equivalent to three or four times that sum, depending on what the landlords can get away with.

"The condition of many of those places is disgusting. They are rat-infested, mice-infested, and there is a lack of repairs and so on.

"The tenants, many of whom are vulnerable, are frightened. They are frightened to contact the landlord, and they are frightened to argue because they do not know what will happen as a result.

"We are paying the rent through housing benefit, and we are subsidising the worst sort of spiv landlord, whose tenants are living in disgraceful conditions."

Ms Thornberry told MPs: "One would hope that, with the credit crunch, perhaps the poorer half of Islington might benefit at last, in that land prices will go down and many builders will be out of work and, when all else fails - when the markets fail and businesses fail - in the end, all that we have is government.

"In those circumstances, perhaps the Government will be able to step in and, perhaps, having had 10 years of boom in the private sector and with a downturn in the market, now might be the public sector's chance, and the chance for the poorer half of my constituency to get some new accommodation."

Housing Minister Margaret Beckett said the Government had already begun buying new housing stick.

She said: "We have been responding positively to the recent economic turbulence and looking for new ways to ensure that delivery remains on track.

"For example, we will be spending £200 million on buying unsold stock from house builders and making it available for affordable housing programmes.

"Already £72 million has been allocated under that programme, buying more than 2,000 properties.

"We have also brought forward £400 million of planned spending so that we can deliver up to 5,500 new social homes in the next 18 months."

Related links: Full debate.

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