“Nine new prisons to be built with old sites replaced by housing” – goes the headline. Chancellor George Osborne said many prisons are outdated “relics from Victorian times” that stand on “prime real estate”. He said modern prisons that were better suited to the rehabilitation of inmates would be built instead.
“Prime real estate” indeed and it will be no surprise if these sites in Brixton, Hammersmith and Holloway et al which house 10,000 people, mostly originating from low income levels of society end up being occupied by the international rich.
This comes at a time when the government continues to hammer nails into the coffin of social housing by ending requirements for developers to build social housing for rent and replacing the requirement with homes to buy (small ones at that) at 80% of the cost of the open market homes. How many people can even afford 80% of current prices in the South East of England?
This along with bedroom tax and other policies is contributing to social housing developers effectively slamming the brakes on.
It all beggars belief. I still can’t believe that any government can openly discriminate against those without money and live in the hope that this is just temporary stupidity and that they will come to their senses.