Housing industry lobbyists must be louder, says Alastair Campbell

Housing industry lobbyists have not done enough to make housing a primary issue of the General Election, according to Tony Blair’s former Director of Communications and Strategy, Alastair Campbell (right). Despite the growing housing crisis, the main political parties are far more focused on other issues like the NHS, economy, immigration, welfare and jobs, with housing lower on the political agenda, largely because housing lobbyist have so far not done enough to be heard. Speaking at the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) conference last week, Campbell advised the industry to campaign harder on housing issues in order to make it a greater political issue. “Too many people give up before they have actually been heard,” said Campbell. He pointed to homeless charity, Shelter, as an organisation that commanded prominent media coverage thanks to their knack of campaigning on a particular issue. He continued, “I think at this stage of the election campaign, housing is not in there as strong as it should be, as a strategy. You have all the politicians talking about a housing crisis, but in terms of what they are going to do about that, who is shaping that agenda for them? “Just as Shelter has…

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