Greens want rent controls for tenants - Polanski

The leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, Zack Polanski, has told BBC South East he ultimately wants to see rent controls imposed on all rented homes.

Introducing rent controls in England in areas where housing is unaffordable is the Green party's flagship policy for renters.

Speaking during a visit to Forest Row Community Fridge in East Sussex, he said a "patchwork model" where controls apply to some and not others would cause problems but argued the right model would stop people being left unable to afford their rent.

There is mixed evidence for the effectiveness of rent controls, which limit a landlord's ability to increase rents.

Polanski said such measures would ease the cost of housing and help end the normalisation of people using food banks, such as that run by the Forest Row Community Fridge.

He claimed that households would be saving, on average, £3,000 per year if rent controls had been introduced in 2022.

"That would put £18bn of purchasing power back in the pockets of people who are able to spend that on their communities rather than that money going to private landlords," he said.

From 2027, councils in Scotland will be able to ask for powers from the Scottish government to introduce rent controls.

Similar powers do not exist in England, although annual increases in rents for social housing are capped.

Rent controls can take many different forms but include limiting how much a landlord can raise rents between tenancies as well as during them.

Landlord groups warn they can put owners off renting out properties which could reduce the number of homes available.

Polanski acknowledged that Green councils would not be able to introduce rent controls if they win councils on 7 May but said they would be a "a solid voice" calling on the government to introduce the system.

The Greens are the only party in England to back rent controls.

The Conservatives and Reform UK do not support them while the Liberal Democrats favour "rent smoothing" which avoid spikes in rent in the first three years of a tenancy.

The government has also said it does not support rent controls but the Labour Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, and the Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, have both spoken in favour of them.

Polanski also addressed the challenges of tight council finances, saying there was no need for authorities to be cash-strapped, describing the situation as a result of political choices.

He pledged all councils run by the Greens after 7 May would hold a "national emergency summit" within the first two months of taking power to tell the government the situation was unacceptable.

Polanski was also asked about the government's use of Crowborough training camp in East Sussex to house migrants.

He said it was "totally unacceptable to be using army barracks to be housing migrants and people who are fleeing from war and persecution".

"We should give them the opportunity to be able to work so they're contributing into our tax system, they're contributing into British society," he said.

Polanski accused the government of "storing people in army barracks like their Amazon returns", which he said was "pretty dehumanising."

He said he wanted to see processing centres in Calais and a redesign of the asylum system to "make sure that there's fairness and transparency".

The government says the camp provides safe and humane accommodation and using military sites allows it to reduce the number of hotels being used to house asylum seekers.

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