Ken Livingstone's programme for London is obliterating Boris Johnson's in so many ways it's almost embarrassing. I preferred Ken to Boris in 2008 too, but not by a massive margin. His vast policy superiority this time may turn out to be at its greatest in the area of housing.
We have a huge housing crisis in this city, with home ownership way beyond the financial reach of most first time buyers and the cost of accommodation in the expanding private rented sector routinely devouring more than half a household's income. Livingstone's manifesto addresses the key elements of that crisis with clarity, imagination and practicality (see pages 35-39). It contrasts rather stirringly with the complete indifference of the media's professional Ken-haters to a growing calamity in the capital.
The Livingstone housing platform is distinguished by his plan to set up a London Lettings Agency, building on models established by some of London's boroughs (Lewisham comes to mind). Boris has accused Ken of wanting to introduce rent controls that might risk shrinking supply in the sector, but the term "rent controls" can mean several different things. Ken's pledge is to free good landlords from rip-off estate agents and unite them with tenants seeking fair rents - a good deal for both parties which should have lower rents as an outcome. Shelter is campaigning for something very similar, which is a serious recommendation.
Ken's other measures include using his planning powers to "block the destruction of social rented or other affordable housing without replacement that meets local housing needs" - the manifesto pointedly cites Boris's staunch allies in Hammersmith and Fulham - fighting attempts to move older people from their homes against their wishes, and supporting community land trusts (CLTs) which can generate housing that costs far less than the local market rate. Boris in 2008 promised "a network" of CLTs. Four year later, not one has materialised.
Ken also comes up with a list of measures for increasing the supply of new housing, drawing strongly on the ideas of the London Labour housing group. Starting more affordable homes than than has occurred under Boris of late should not be hard. Figures released by the department for homes and communities for the first half of 2011/12 show that the creation of just 56 - yes, friends, that's just 56 - began during that time.
The government - and Boris - would doubtless claim that this miserably low figure results from the change over from the previous government's investment programme to the current regime's drastically reduced one, and a less dismal number can indeed be expected for the second half of 2011/12 - although it won't be published before May. But if it's a hiatus, it's the government's hiatus - and Londoners are suffering.
Boris has boasted repeatedly of "delivering" a record number of affordable homes completed - not the same thing as started - under his mayoralty, but never mentions that this was possible only because of the large sums of money he inherited from Ken and Labour.
London's housing problems are not the sort that are best left to the market, which is the natural default position of the total Tory that Boris is. Housing policy is another compelling reason for Londoners to give one of their two mayoral votes to candidate Livingstone and neither to candidate Johnson.
