What should Andy Burnham’s priorities be?

Originally written as a column for Inside Housing.

How much will Andy Burnham change on housing as prime minister? 

He has certainly not been short of advice from think-tanks and housing organisations in the weeks of the non-contest to become Labour leader. He was sympathetic to calls for more radical reform when he was mayor of Greater Manchester. 

But what will his priorities really be? Here are five areas to address.

Council housing

His headline pledge of ‘the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period’ has wide appeal on the left. 

However, much of the ten-year, £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme is already allocated for this parliament. Concentrating on social rent, as Mr Burnham has suggested, would mean lower, genuinely affordable rents but fewer new homes overall. 

If he really means switching back from housing associations to councils, as his comments about ‘public control’ suggest, that would be a popular on the Labour benches but problems remain.